RWBY: Aqua's Mission
by TPoynt
Summary: Aqua didn't know what would happen when she fell into the Realm of Darkness. The last thing she expected was having to raise two little girls. With one of them being a Keyblade Wielder, she has her work cut out for her.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hey guys. Welcome to my second Fanfiction. This is a RWBY/Kingdom Hearts crossover starring Aqua in the world of Remnant. I'm really excited about this one and hope you guys enjoy it.**

Chapter 1

How did it ever come to this? Aqua stood victorious over the stolen body of her best friend, Terra. A week ago, she was still in training with him and their friend Ven. They lived happy lives in the Land of Departure. She and Terra both thought that the Mark of Mastery Exam would be the beginning of something great. But it just proved to be the start of their downfall. Now, Ven was in a coma after losing his heart, and his body was sequestered away to a hidden place thanks to Aqua. And she was forced to fight her best friend, whose body had been stolen away from him. All thanks to the workings of one Master Xehanort. Because of one old man, everything she had ever known and loved had been destroyed. She lost her world, her Master, her friends.

After hiding Ven's body and transforming the Land of Departure to guarantee no one would find him, she promised him she'd be right back to wake him up and tracked down Terra to Radiant Garden. But he wasn't the young man she remembered. Instead of his shoulder-length brown locks, his hair had turned a dark silver, and his eyes bright yellow. Instead of the friendly smile that she had come to love and find comfort in, his face was contorted into a wicked grin. And he no longer used her friend's Keyblade. Instead, he used the weapon that she recognized as having belonged to Xehanort. As much as it hurt to admit it, the young man before her was not Terra. But she refused to give up on him. He attacked her, so she summoned her Keyblade and fought back. It was hard, but she came out victorious. She wasn't made a Keyblade Master for nothing, after all.

"Terra" stumbled backwards, the extent of his injuries taking their toll on him. But then his body began to glow with a golden light. He began to tremble, looking like he was exerting some great effort.

"Stop fighting back," he growled through grit teeth. He looked to be fighting with himself, and then stood ramrod stiff. She couldn't believe it. Terra was still there somewhere, and he was fighting.

"Terra, I know you're in there!" She called, trying to encourage her best friend. With great effort, he grabbed his Keyblade and pointed the end at his own chest.

"This'll teach you," he said. "Get out of my heart!" He thrust the Keyblade into his chest, and the glow surrounding his body vanished.

"Terra!" Aqua called with concern. His arms fell limply to his sides, and his Keyblade fell from his hands, dematerializing as it hit the ground. A soft glow radiated from his chest, and he looked down at the ground with half-lidded eyes. His Dark Guardian appeared behind him, darkness appearing to just ooze off of it and pool on the floor around Terra. She watched as he slowly fell backwards into the pool, which began to swallow him up. She instantly ran towards the pool, but finding that he had been completely swallowed up, she dove right in after him without a moment's hesitation.

* * *

She summoned her armor to protect herself from the darkness, and looked around for Terra. She found him below her, falling further into the darkness. At the rate he was falling, she knew she wouldn't be able to catch up to him normally, so she summoned her Keyblade and transformed it into her glider, hopping on and racing after him.

"The darkness can't have you!" She shouted to him, giving her glider a speed boost. She could see that she was rapidly gaining on him, so she reached out her hand as far as it could go, and grabbed hold of his wrist. She looked above her, and saw a light radiating from the pool she jumped through. On the other side of that light was the Realm of Light, and with it, the way home. She slung Terra over her shoulder, and rocketed full-throttle back towards the hole. To her horror, she could see the light begin to fade rapidly. The hole was closing.

_We're not gonna make it_, she thought. _I have to do something or we'll both be lost._ She looked at the exit, then to her best friend slung over her shoulder. The choice was obvious. She looked solemnly at the Realm of the Light, at the world she knew she'd be leaving behind, and transformed her Keyblade Glider back into her Keyblade, the Rainfell. In a flash, her armor had separated itself from her body and remained holding Terra. She placed the Rainfell in Terra's hand.

"I'm with you," she said to his unconscious form. "Go!" she gestured towards the rapidly closing exit, sending her Keyblade and Armor skyrocketing towards it with Terra in tow. She continued her slow descent into the darkness. "Ven, I'm sorry," she said somberly. "I might not make it back as soon as I thought. But I promise I'll be there one day, to wake you up."

* * *

Yang Xiao Long pulled her little wagon behind her, her little sister Ruby Rose asleep inside it, doing her best to ignore her growling stomach. She had left the house only a few hours ago with Ruby in tow, and they were headed towards an old cabin in the woods of Patch.

Yang's life had started out so happy. Just her, Ruby, her dad, and her mom. _No_, she thought. _Not my mom_. Her dad had made that apparent. They were a happy family once, with her father working as a Huntsman and teacher at Signal, and her mo—_Summer_— taking on missions. But then a year ago, she left and never came back. Everything changed after that. Her father had taken up drinking heavily, and seemed to completely give up on his life and even on caring about his two daughters. And as time went on, the time he spent sober began to dwindle. It had gotten bad enough that he even regularly forgot to feed them, preferring to pass out drunk, much as he had that day. It was around noon that day, and neither she nor her sister had eaten yet, when she heard her Uncle Qrow walk into her living room. She decided now was the time to bring up their lack of food, as Uncle Qrow was more likely to do something about it. That's when she heard them talking.

"_Come on, Tai,_" Qrow had said. "_It's been a year._"

"_Can you blame me?_" Her father said, and it was evident that he was drunk by the way his words were slurring. "_First Raven leaves, and now Summer's dead. I just can't do this anymore._" His words stunned Yang. Who was Raven? "_She was Yang's mom. How could she just leave like that?_" Yang was speechless, and just ran upstairs to cry.

She couldn't believe it. Summer wasn't her mom? Raven was? And she left? Why? Was she not good enough? She could only cry as these questions repeated in her head. After some time passed, she heard her father and Uncle Qrow leave, and she looked up at one of the pictures on her nightstand. It was a picture of herself as a baby, along with Taiyang and Summer in front of an unfamiliar cabin. Her father had explained some time ago that it was the house they used to live at before Ruby was born, and it was somewhere in the woods near their current house. To her 7-year-old mind, it made sense that that would be where she could go to find her mother. And so she scooped up Ruby, placed her in her wagon, and headed off into the woods. Ruby had long since fallen asleep, and Yang knew she had to be getting close to the cabin.

_Soon, I'll find my mom,_ she thought. _And then we can be a family_.

She kept walking for a few minutes, when she finally saw it. It was a dilapidated shack in the middle of the woods, the entire structure in a state of disrepair from a lack of maintenance. But the most curious thing about the scene was the unconscious woman on the ground in front of it.

The woman had shoulder-length blue hair and a light complexion. She was wearing a black corset over a black halter top with short black shorts, and two intersecting pink straps over her chest with a silver badge where the straps intersect. Around her waist were strips of blue cloth hanging on either side, with smaller white cloths over those. She had white detached sleeves on her arms, with a piece of metal at the base of them. She wore gray fingerless gloves on her hands, and thigh-high stocking on her legs, leaving a little bit of skin on her thighs exposed. Finally, she wore silver boots, with little wings at the top.

Yang couldn't believe it. This had to be her. This had to be Raven. She was right. It was a good idea to come out into the woods like this. But why was she unconscious? She dropped the handle to the wagon, and ran towards the woman to shake her awake. Her eyes fluttered open, and Yang was greeted by deep blue eyes.

* * *

Aqua slowly opened her eyes. The first sight she saw was the lilac eyes of a little blonde-haired girl. She looked really excited to see her for some reason. The girl's blonde hair was done up in pigtails, and tied with red ribbons. She was wearing a short-sleeved tan shirt with stitching down the sides and a yellow scarf. Over the shirt she wore an orange belt. She had black shorts on, and completing her outfit was a pair of orange socks and brown shoes. Aqua could see a red wagon behind the girl. The girl also looked oddly thin.

She sat up and took a look at her surroundings. She was in the middle of the woods, in the evening if the lighting was any indication.

_Where am I?_ She thought. _I thought I fell into the Realm of Darkness. How am I in a forest with a little girl? Did I somehow find a way back to the Realm of Light? Can I get back to Ven?_ Her thoughts were interrupted when the little girl spoke to her.

"E-excuse me," she said timidly. "I-Is your name 'Raven'?" Aqua looked at the girl and shook her head.

"No, it isn't," she said, and she saw the girl's face fall into deep disappointment. "My name is Aqua. What's your name?"

"Yang."

"Well, Yang, do you know where we are?"

"In a forest on Patch."

_Patch?_ Aqua thought. _Is that what this world is called?_ Before she could inquire further, she heard a grumbling sound coming from the wagon. She stood up and walked over to the wagon, taking a peek inside it. Lying there was another little girl, fast asleep.

She had short black hair that turned red at the tips. She was wearing a sleeveless red hoodie with a white shirt underneath it, and a red cape behind her back. She had a black skirt and black shoes with no socks. Worryingly, she also looked a little too thin.

_What happened to these girls?_

"Who's this?" she asked Yang.

"Ruby," the girl answered. "My sister."

"What are you two doing out here?"

"We're looking for my mom," the girl answered, and Aqua's eyes widened slightly with worry.

"Is her name Raven?" Yang nodded in reply. "So you thought I might have been her when you first saw me?" Another nod. And then it dawned on her. How could this little girl mistake her for her own mother? "Do you… not know what she looks like?" Yang shook her head this time.

"C-Could you help me find her?"

"Of course I'll help." That was when they heard growling. It was coming from the shack, and sure enough, Aqua could see three sets of glowing red eyes. Yang yelped in fright, and hid behind Aqua's leg. "Stay behind me, sweetie," she said, summoning her Keyblade.

Huh. That was weird. Her Keyblade didn't feel right. She looked down and saw a Keyblade that, while familiar, was definitely not hers. And then she remembered that she left hers behind with Terra. This Keyblade was more simplistic and rectangular in design. It had a simple metal handle, and a plain square cross guard. The shaft of the blade was solid black, and the "Teeth" of the key was a simple, blocky letter "E". This was the Master Keeper. The Keyblade of her beloved Master, Eraqus, and the Keyblade she used to hide Ven's body away. Shaking her head to regain her focus, she looked back at the figures leaving the shack. They were unlike anything she had ever seen.

The creatures' bodies were pitch black, with the exception of some pieces of white armor and their piercing red eyes. They were vaguely shaped like wolves, only they were standing upright on two legs. They had what looked to be white bone masks on their faces with red accents, and a few pieces of bone armor here and there. Aqua slowed her breathing, preparing for battle. And then one of the creatures lunged at her, jaws wide open.

She raised her Keyblade and stopped the creature's attack, pushing back as it tried to bite its way through her weapon. She shoved forward violently, throwing the creature off her Keyblade, but she couldn't finish it off as another one tried to swipe at her from the left side. She blocked the swipe and stepped forward, swinging her Keyblade at the weird wolf monster. She struck once in the chest, and it stumbled backwards. After a few more swings, it was down. She turned her attention back to the first monster that attacked her, charging at it. She swung at the creature, but it blocked her attack. To her shock, the third one ran past her straight towards Yang and Ruby. Quickly turning around, she pointed her Keyblade at that monster.

"Fire!" she yelled, and a small ball of fire launched from her Keyblade and hit the monster in the back, staggering it, but not killing it. She felt a sharp pain in her back, as the monster she was just fighting had taken a swipe while she was trying to defend the girls. She turned around and delivered several quick slashes to the chest, finishing it off, and ran towards the third monster, which was still advancing on the girls. Before she could reach it, though, somebody else got there first, slicing the monster clean in half.

It was a man, most likely in his late 20s. He was tall and thin, and was wearing a grey button up shirt, black pants, and black boots. He had a red cape on his back, and a necklace with a sideways cross. His black hair framed his face in the front, and was swept back behind his head. His dark red eyes were narrowed in focus as he scanned the area. The most impressive thing about him was the massive scythe in his hands. His serious demeanor was shattered as Yang ran up to him and clutched his leg tightly, as his expression quickly changed to worry.

"Uncle Qrow!" she yelled into his leg.

"Are you OK?" he asked the girl. "What are doing out here?"

"I thought I could find my mom," she said through her tears. "And then those Grimm showed up and Aqua saved me."

"What? Who?"

"I'm Aqua," the woman herself spoke up. The man looked up at her suspiciously.

"Who are you? I've never seen you around here before." She was going to answer, but the injury she took to her back acted up, making her stumble.

"Are you OK?" he asked warily.

"Give me a second," she said, and raised her Keyblade in the air. "Cure!" she said, and she was surrounded by a green light. When the light faded, her wound had healed.

"That's some Semblance you have there," Qrow said.

"Some what?" Before he could answer, more creatures appeared. These ones were more familiar. They were small and pitch black, with two antennae on their heads, and bright yellow eyes. They were surrounded as the creatures seemingly rose up from the ground. Aqua and Qrow both raised their weapons, and Yang hid behind her uncle.

"What the hell are these things?" Qrow asked.

"The Heartless," Aqua answered. She remembered her Master teaching her about them during her training.

They immediately sprang into action, Aqua with her Keyblade and Qrow with his scythe. The Heartless were only Shadows, so they went down easily, but the problem was the sheer number of enemies. It was difficult for the two of them to fight all of the creatures while keeping Yang and Ruby safe. But then there was a brilliantly bright flash of light that emanated from the wagon. Aqua, Qrow, and Yang had to cover their eyes. When they opened their eyes again, all the Heartless were gone. They looked at the wagon, and saw that Ruby was not only wide awake, she was staring in awe at the object in her right hand.

It was shaped vaguely like a sword. She was gripping it by the handle, which had a black base wrapped in red, like the handle of a katana. For a cross guard, it used two red blade-like appendages. The shaft of the weapon started with what appeared to be a red gun barrel before transitioning in a pure black shaft. At the end of the weapon was a blooming rose. A similar rose was attached to a chain on the pommel of the object. Aqua could tell immediately what it was.

"A Keyblade?" she gasped in surprise.

"A what?" Qrow asked. Yang ran up to her sister, giving her a hug.

"Ruby! Are you OK? What is that? It's so cool!"

"Yang?" the red-clad girl asked, and Aqua could see her brilliant silver eyes. "Where are we?"

"Kiddo, are you OK?" Qrow asked her.

"Oh, hi, Uncle Qrow!" she said excitedly, and the Keyblade disappeared.

"Whoa, where'd it go?!" Yang asked.

"You know what?" Qrow said, pulling a flask out of his shirt pocket and taking a drink. "I'm not sober enough for this. Let's just get you two home." He looked to Aqua. "You helped these two out, right?" Aqua nodded. "You said your name was Aqua?" She confirmed it. "You probably figured this out already, but I'm Qrow. Qrow Branwen. Thanks for saving my nieces. Now, I'd like to get them home to their father, but why don't you come with me? I have a lot of questions for you."

"OK," Aqua said, knowing that she probably didn't have much of a choice. Qrow's scythe folded up into itself, transforming into a large sword, which he sheathed behind his lower back.

"Come on," he gestured with his head. Aqua obeyed, but her mind was elsewhere. Somehow, someway, she had fallen into the Realm of Darkness, woke up in a forest, and then met a little girl that had a Keyblade. She knew she needed to find a way back to Ven, but this was a little more important.

* * *

The four of them were walking through the woods, with Yang constantly asking her little sister if she was OK, with Ruby insisting that she was, and Yang also asking about that "cool sword thingy" that Ruby had earlier. Aqua had to admit the sisters were really adorable. Less adorable were the suspicious looks their Uncle Qrow kept shooting in her general direction. He wasn't saying anything, just looking at her in between watching the girls. Finally, she decided to break the silence.

"Do you have something you want to ask me?" she asked the man. He didn't answer right away. "You've been glaring at me since we set out."

"You seem to know a thing or two about what's going on," he said. "So I'll start by asking what those weird creatures are that attacked us." She had to think about how to proceed here. She had to maintain the world order, so there were several things he could ask her about that she would be unable to answer. She had to be very careful. He seemed overly cautious of her, understandable as it may be. The last thing she needed was for him to get the local authorities involved because of a suspicious character.

"Those creatures are called 'the Heartless'," she said. It wouldn't harm too much to let him know that much. "They are creatures attracted to the darkness in people's Hearts."

"They sound a lot like the Grimm," he said, stroking the light stubble on his chin. "I wonder if it's some new type."

"I wouldn't know," said Aqua. Granted, she didn't know what a 'Grimm' was, for that matter, but she assumed it would seem weird not to know that, so she should probably make him think she knew what he was talking about.

"You seemed to handle yourself pretty well. You a Huntress?"

"I guess you could say that." Technically, her main duty as a Keyblade wielder was to hunt down the Heartless to keep the worlds safe, so it wasn't exactly a lie.

"What school did you go to?" There were schools in this world to teach you how to fight?

"I was trained by my Master. I didn't go to a school."

"Didn't know people still did that." Aqua held back a flinch. She might have made a mistake. "So, what was that thing Ruby had earlier? I know you recognized it. You called it by name."

"It's a Keyblade. I've got one, too. It's the only weapon that can kill a Heartless for good."

"My scythe seemed to do a pretty decent job."

"You didn't kill them. You just displaced them. The ones you got will probably just come back later, I'm sorry to say." She chose to leave out the fact that the Keyblade attracts the Heartless. He didn't need to know that right now. She didn't know how he'd react. He might blame her for putting his nieces in danger, since in all likelihood the Heartless were after her.

"That was an impressive healing ability you used earlier. That your Semblance?" She didn't answer, as she had no idea what that was. "Come to think of it, why did you need to do that? Why didn't your Aura protect you?" She definitely made a mistake. She made a mistake in letting herself get hurt fighting those wolf monsters. She made a mistake by healing herself in front of him. And made a mistake by not answering his questions. How could she? It's not like she knew what any of those things were. "No answer? That's fine." She could tell by the tone of his voice that it was most not definitely not "fine". They walked the rest of the way in an uncomfortable silence, with Aqua keeping an eye on the sisters, in particular the new Keyblade wielder. She looked back at Qrow.

"She said she was looking for her mother," she said.

"Hm?"

"Yang. She said she was out here looking for her mother." Qrow furrowed his brow at that.

"Her mother died a year ago. She must just be in denial. I know she still misses Summer."

"Summer?"

"Her mom."

"She said her mother's name was Raven." Qrow's eyes widened as soon as she said the name.

"What? Where did she hear that?"

"I don't know. That's just what she told me. The weird thing is she initially thought I was Raven. Do I look like her?"

"Not at all."

"How does she not know what her own mother looks like?" Qrow pulled out his flask and took a swig.

"It's really not any of your business," he said with a scowl. "We're almost at their house. Let's just keep going." Aqua spared another glance at the sisters, unable to help the pang of worry that filled her gut.

_Just what have these girls been through?_

* * *

Aqua wasn't sure what to expect from the home of Ruby and Yang. She definitely did not expect all the empty beer cans and bottles of whiskey. Nor the absolutely disheveled man that she could only assume was the girls' father.

He had messy blond hair, which Yang obviously inherited. He wore a tan button-up shirt under a short brown vest. He had an orange bandana wrapped around his left bicep, and had a silver pauldron on his right shoulder. He had a tattoo on his right arm that was vaguely heart-shaped. His right forearm had a leather guard on it, and his right hand was gloved. He wore yellow cargo shorts and black boots. His blue eyes had a slightly glazed-over look, which along with the smell of alcohol on his breath indicated that he was likely very drunk at the moment.

As soon as he saw the girls, he immediately sprang up from his chair and ran to embrace them, stumbling a little as he did so. Yang started crying as soon as he got up, but Ruby didn't. She still had no idea how much danger they had been in.

"Oh thank God you're both OK," he said. She could hear that his words were slurring. She couldn't help but feel a little disgusted. All the empty cans and bottles indicated that he's been drinking like this for a very long time. How could he let his own daughters see him like this? He leaned out of the embrace and looked Yang right in her eyes. "What were you thinking?! You could have gotten you or your sister killed!"

"I'm sorry!" Yang said through her tears. "I thought I could find my mom!"

"What?" he asked. "But Summer's gone."

"Not her! I heard you! Summer wasn't my mom! You said Raven was!"

"You heard us?" Qrow asked. Yang nodded.

"I thought I could find her at our old house," she said as she was sniffling. Aqua was listening to their conversation when she felt something tug on her waist cloth. She looked down and was met with wide silver eyes.

"Hi," Ruby said a little timidly. "What's your name, miss?" Aqua squatted a little so she was eye-level with the little girl.

"I'm Aqua," she said. "What's your name?"

"Ruby."

"Well, Ruby, it's very nice to meet you." The girl beamed at her, and Aqua had to admit, it was absolutely adorable.

"Do you know why Yang is crying?"

"I think she did something bad." Ruby gasped as Aqua said this, her hands shooting up to cover her mouth in shock.

"Is she going to get in trouble?" She asked innocently. It was official. She was probably the most adorable little girl Aqua had ever met. Granted, the only other little girls she had the opportunity to meet were Kairi and Yang, but still.

"Probably," Aqua answered honestly.

"I don't want her to get in trouble!"

"And who are you?" their father had finally taken notice of Aqua's presence. He was currently glaring daggers at her. Ruby ran up and hugged her father's leg.

"Daddy! Don't get Yang in trouble!"

"Yang did something she wasn't supposed to," he said, the slurring still obvious. "We'll talk about this later, Yang." The blonde nodded and backed away, hugging her sister close. Even someone as young as Yang could tell that there was an edge in the room thanks to the way her father was glaring at the blue-haired woman. "Are you going to answer me? Who are you?"

"My name is Aqua," she said. She couldn't remember the last time she had to introduce herself to this many people. "Yang found me unconscious in the forest."

"She did? What were you doing there?" That was the million-munny question, wasn't it?

"I don't know."

"Excuse me?"

"I don't remember how I got there. I woke up to find Yang sitting over me, she asked me if I was this 'Raven', and then those monsters attacked us."

"She saved us, Dad!" Yang chimed in.

"Did she?" He looked to Qrow. The other man nodded. "Then I guess I should thank you. My name is Taiyang Xiao Long, but you can call me Tai."

"It was nothing," she insisted. "I'm sure anyone else would have done the same." Just then, they heard a grumbling sound. They looked at the sisters, and Yang looking down with a blush on her face.

"Tai," Qrow said sternly. "Have they eaten yet?" It was Taiyang's turn to blush. "Seriously? Again?" That surprised Aqua. Was it a regular occurrence for him to forget to feed his own daughters?

_What is wrong with him?_ She thought.

"I know," Taiyang said with no small amount of shame. He looked at Aqua. "Do you have someplace to stay?" She shook her head. "Hey, Qrow? Why don't you take her to an inn in town, and I'll make the girls dinner?" Qrow took another swig from his flask, clearly displeased.

_Does every adult in their life drink?_

"Fine," Qrow sighed. "Come on, Wonder Woman."

* * *

She had to admit, the island she was on was beautiful. Patch, if she remembered what Yang called it correctly. The cabin that the girls' family lived in was pretty much in the middle of nowhere, but there was a quaint little town nearby. This was where Qrow was taking her. She had a few burning questions for him.

"So, was that normal?" she asked.

"Is what normal?"

"The empty bottles, the drunkenness, the fact that they hadn't eaten?"

"I don't think that's any of your business."

"Someone can't just see that and not have questions. You can't blame me for being curious."

"No, I guess I can't."

"So, is that normal?"

"Sadly, yeah. It started happening around a year ago. After Summer died."

"Summer was their mother?"

"Yeah."

"But Yang said her mother was Raven."

"It was. Raven is Yang's mother. She's also my sister. She left right after Yang was born and never came back." Aqua found her blood instantly boiling.

"How could she leave her own daughter and husband like that?"

"My sister was never all that easy to figure out. Honestly, I'm surprised he managed to keep her interested long enough to get her pregnant at all. Anyway, she left, and then our teammate Summer stepped in to help him raise Yang. One thing led to another, and two years later, Summer gave birth to Ruby." He also mumbled something about _lucky bastard_, but Aqua couldn't quite hear him.

"And then Summer died?"

"Yeah. A year ago. She left on a mission and never came back. Tai started drinking after that."

"And that causes him to forget to feed his daughters?"

"Yeah."

"And you let him?"

"It's not like I could take them."

"Why not?" To answer her question, he just shook his flask in front of her.

"I've been doing this even longer than Tai has. Besides, I wouldn't trust me around kids for an extended period of time. Let's just say I have _really_ bad luck." They were approaching a fairly large building. "Looks like we're here." They walked in the front door, and was greeted by a young woman behind the front counter.

"Hi, welcome to Patch Inn," the woman greeted. "Room for two?"

"No, we're not together," Qrow said matter-of-factly. "I'm just helping her get situated."

"Ok, so a room for one?" She looked at the computer screen in front of her. "It looks like we have a few rooms available. How many nights will you be staying?"

"This will be an indefinite arrangement. Can she rent out the room long-term?" Qrow asked.

"Sure. Can I have a name?"

"Aqua." The Blue-haired woman answered.

"Last name?" Aqua genuinely didn't have one, but it was probably weird to the people of this world. So, she said the only name she could think of. The name of the closest man she had to a father.

"Eraqus."

"Aqua Eraqus? Ok. So, if you would like to rent the room long-term, it'll be 500 lien a week."

"You do have money, right?" Qrow asked. Aqua reached into her pocket, and found that the munny orbs she had gathered on her travels had transformed into hard plastic cards.

"Would this be enough?" Judging by the way both Qrow and the woman stood with their mouths wide open, she had her answer.

"Uh, yeah, that's definitely enough," Qrow said. "What do you do for a living again?"

"Oh, you know," Aqua said. "I hunt."

"OK then. So, is she all set?"

"Yes, she is," the receptionst said sfter finally picking her jaw up off the floor. "Here's the key. Enjoy your stay, Ms. Eraqus."

* * *

Her room was on the third floor of the inn. It was a fairly small room, but nice nonetheless. It had one bed, a couch, a TV, a table with a few chairs, a full bathroom with a shower, and a small kitchen. It even had a balcony. Evidently, the third floor was exclusively for long-term renters like her.

Qrow had helped her get situated, and then left, but with the assurance that they would be seeing each other again very soon. She was sitting outside on her balcony at night, and she finally got a look at the most bizarre sight yet from this world.

The moon was shattered. It was jarring, and yet strangely mesmerizing. She reached into the pocket of her shorts and pulled out her wayfinder. It was a star-shaped object made of blue stained glass attached to a brown cord. She held it up in front of her face, and stared at it, the light of the moon dancing in the glass. The wayfinder brought back memories. She had made them herself and given one to Terra and one to Ven. They were supposed to guarantee that they would always find each other, but whether or not it worked remained to be seen. As she remembered for old friends so fondly, her thoughts began to stray to a certain red-garbed girl. The little girl with a Keyblade, Ruby. She had a power that likely no one else in this world had. Aqua had also unlocked hers at a young age, but she had Master Eraqus to teach her. Ruby would need help. She needed to learn how to use her new weapon. And hey, Aqua was a Master.

_Ven, Terra_, she thought, _I'm sorry. I know I promised I'd be back for you, but there's someone else that needs me right now._

* * *

Qrow was on his way back to the Xiao Long/Rose house when he pulled out his Scroll. There was a certain someone whom needed to know about what happened today. HE dialed the number and waited for the video call to start. He was greeted by the familiar shaggy silver hair and small dark sunglasses of the Headmaster of Beacon Academy.

"Qrow," Ozpin greeted. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Oz," Qrow said. "I think I might have a lead on the Spring Maiden."

**AN: Thank you guys for reading Chapter 1 of my new fic. For those of you that are hear because you reed the Dragon, the Cat, the Champion, and the Soul Reaper, I'm going to do a few chapters of this fic before going back to continue that one. **

**I lot of people mentioned in my other fic that it was a problem that it mostly stuck to Bleach canon. I'm planning for this story to have a lot of original content, since it will be starting off with several chapters during Ruby and Yang's childhood before the events of Volume 1 start. I'm really excited to write this story. I also feel that RWBY's story is more malleable than Bleach's, which makes a story like this easier to write.**

**It mainly stemmed from a desire to see Aqua in a role that we've never seen her in before. She's a Keyblade Master, but she never took on an apprentice. **

**Thank you guys again for reading. I'm super excited to write it, and I hope you're all excited to read it. There's no schedule so I don't have to rush, so I'll see you all next chapter.**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Wow. Over 50 Follows from the first chapter alone. It makes me really happen that people are so excited to see more of this.**

**Now I would like to address a point made by Spartastic 4. He pointed out that Aqua shouldn't know what the Heartless are, since Mickey had to tell her what they were in 0.2. I completely forgot that she didn't know that, but it makes no sense to me. If Aqua wan't taught what the Heartless are, then what was she being trained to fight? I consider that to be a plot hole, so for the purposes of this story, I'm going to pretend that she knows what the Heartless, and possibly the Nobodies are.**

**Again, for story purposes, I'm going to act like Aqua has a basic understanding of the Age of Fairy Tales and the Keyblade War. Xehanort gave her a basic rundown, and I'll say that Yen Sid filled in the rest off-screen. **

**Anyway, here's Chapter 2! Enjoy!**

Chapter 2

Aqua stood in front of Ruby and Yang's house, trying to work up the nerve to approach it. She had to ask Taiyang a question, one that she knew he likely wouldn't take well. She was going to ask him if she could train Ruby. She knew that it was a very reckless thing to ask of him, especially since Ruby was only five. But Ruby was now in possession of one of the most powerful weapons in the world, and Aqua was the only other person in this world that had one. She was the only one who could teach the girl how to use it, and it was imperative that she learn. The only potential roadblock was convincing her father to let her.

She took a deep breath and approached the front door of the large wooden cabin. She knocked on the door, expecting a tall blond man to open it, but she was instead greeted by Ruby herself, who smiled as soon as she saw the blue-haired woman.

"Hi, Miss Aqua!" Ruby greeted cheerfully. Aqua squatted down a little bit so she was at eye-level with the five-year-old.

"Hey there, Ruby. Is your dad home?"

"Yup!"

"Great! Can I come in? I have something to talk to him about."

"Sure! Come on in!" Ruby stepped aside to let Aqua in, and the inside of the house was exactly the same as Aqua left it yesterday. There were still empty alcohol containers strewn all over the place, and there was a general sense of neglect.

"So, where's Yang?" Aqua asked.

"She's in her room. She's grounded," Ruby said with a pout. Aqua was surprised that Ruby seemed genuinely upset that her sister was in trouble.

"And where's you dad?"

"Daddy's in the living room." Ruby showed her the way, and they were greeted by the sight of the girls' father asleep in a chair, a half-empty bottle of whiskey on the table next to him. Ruby walked up to her father and lightly tapped his shoulder.

"Daddy?" She was answered with a sleepy grunt. "Daddy. Wake up. Miss Aqua's here." He slowly opened his eyes.

"I'm awake," he said groggily, rubbing his eyes to help him wake up. He looked up and saw Aqua standing in the middle of his living room. "Aqua? What are you doing here?"

"Hello, Taiyang. There's something I need to talk to you about." He looked at her for a few seconds, and she noticed that his eyes looked almost lifeless. She figured that this much alcohol and grief would do that to someone. She couldn't help but feel angry at him again, which she tried her best to suppress. How could he act this way? How could he let his grief get the better of him like that? Didn't he know his daughters were grieving, too? After losing Summer like they did, they needed him now more than ever. And what was he doing? Getting drunk.

"Ruby, why don't you go upstairs and play with Yang? Aqua wants to talk to me."

"Okie dokie!" she said cheerfully, running off to go see her sister.

"So, what do you want to talk about?" Taiyang asked her, and she noticed his words were slurring again. Or was it still? Come to think of it, had he stopped drinking since the day before long enough to even sober up? She had to fight the twinge of anger again.

"I'm sure by now Qrow told you what happened yesterday?"

"Do you mean the weird monsters that attacked you guys? Yes he did. Thanks again for keeping the girls safe, by the way."

"You don't need to thank me. And that wasn't exactly what I was referring to." Taiyang's eyebrow rose in confusion at that.

"Then what?"

"Did he tell you about the weapon that Ruby summoned after the Heartless showed up?"

"Yes, he did," Taiyang said warily. "A Key Sword or something."

"Keyblade. I have one, too. That's what I want to talk to you about."

"What about it?" This was it. The moment of truth. She took a deep breath in preparation to ask the question she came out here to ask.

"I would like to ask for your permission to train Ruby to use her Keyblade." His jaw fell open. He stared at her for a few seconds, clearly trying to wrap his head around what she just asked.

"Excuse me?" Evidently, he couldn't comprehend it.

"I would like to train Ruby to use her Keyblade."

"No. Absolutely not." That was what she was afraid of.

"If I may explain—" She began.

"No, there's nothing to explain. She's five. If you want her to learn how to use that thing so badly, wait until she goes to Signal. And that's even _if_ I allow either of those girls to become Huntresses. After Summer died, I'm all of sudden not very fond of the idea."

"Taiyang, with all due respect, I'm the only person in the world that can teach her how to use that weapon. If I'm correct, then we're the only two people that have one."

"That's great. You can wait until she's 13 and goes to Signal."

"She might not survive until she's 13 if she doesn't learn how to use it!" She wasn't expecting to have to raise her voice, but she couldn't help it. He needed to understand how important it was for Ruby to learn.

"Explain," he said simply.

"I have reservations about teaching a child that young to fight, too, believe me." He was about to interrupt, but Aqua held her hand out to stop him. "However, the Keyblade doesn't grant us the luxury of waiting. The creatures that attacked us in the woods are called the Heartless. The Keyblade attracts them like a beacon. I understand that you are against a five-year old learning how to fight, but regardless of your wishes, the Heartless _will_ come for her. And if she isn't ready, they will kill her." Taiyang simply stared at her, trying to process what she said. "I'm a Keyblade Master. I can teach her, and she'll need it to—"

"Get out," he interrupted.

"What?" Her eyes widened.

"Get out. Get out of my house. I'm not going to sit here and listen to you tell me that my daughter, my _five-year-old daughter_, needs to go learn how to use some mysterious weapon just to stay alive. Get out of my house."

"But—"

"Leave!" he yelled, and Aqua knew she had no other choice. Without saying another word, she turned around, walked out the door, closed it behind her, and leaned back against it, letting the back of her head hit it with a _thunk_.

_Well, that could have gone better_, she thought in disappointment. She looked out towards the road and saw none other than Qrow approaching the house.

"Hey, there, Wonder Woman," he said. "Just the person I was looking for. What are you doing out here?"

"I had to ask Taiyang for something, but I'll have to try again."

"Well, I need you to come with me. There's somebody who wants to speak with you." Her breath hitched. Did he contact the authorities? Was she too suspicious? "Don't worry. It's nothing bad. My boss just wants to have a few words with you." Reluctantly, she nodded her head, and gestured for him to lead the way.

* * *

Aqua was brought to a small room in the same hotel she happened to be staying in, but it was much smaller and on a lower floor. Qrow had told her to take a seat, and then left to retrieve whomever wanted to see her. She wasn't waiting long. After a few minutes, Qrow walked back in with presumably this mysterious "Boss" of his.

He was a man who, despite his full head of shaggy silver hair, appeared to be in his late 30's. He was wearing a black suit with a green shirt and scarf underneath it, and small black sunglasses. Interestingly, he carried a cane with him, despite clearly having no trouble walking. He took a seat in front of Aqua, with Qrow sitting next to him.

"Aqua Eraqus, I presume?" the man asked her. I would take a little getting-used-to hearing her Master's name attached to her own.

"That's me," she answered with a slight bow of her head. "And whom am I speaking with?"

"Seriously?" Qrow asked. "You don't know who this guy is?"

"No. Should I?" Aqua asked, slightly tilting her head to the side in confusion.

"This is Professor Ozpin," Qrow explained. "Headmaster of Beacon?" He was met with a blank stare. "The most prestigious Huntsman Academy in Remnant?" Still no sign of recognition. "That not ring a bell?"

"I'm afraid not."

"Damn. Where the hell are you from, anyway?"

"Uh, far away."

"Far enough away that you've never heard of Ozpin, or Beacon?"

"Very far away."

"Indeed," Ozpin interjected. "While I would love to talk about her lack of recognition of me, I would like to talk to Miss Eraqus about the abilities she demonstrated for you yesterday."

"You mean my magic?" she asked, shocking both Qrow and Ozpin, thought the latter showed it a little better.

"Wait, you just freely admitted that you can use magic?" Qrow asked incredulously.

"Is that a problem?" Aqua asked.

"It is only a problem because magic is not supposed to exist in this world," Ozpin said, and Aqua realized she had made a huge mistake.

_Oops_, she thought.

"But yes, I wanted to talk to you about your magic," Ozpin continued. "How long have you have you been able to use magic?"

"Since I was a child," Aqua answered. "Technically, my magic isn't a natural ability of mine. I can only use it thanks to the Keyblade."

"The Keyblade?" Ozpin asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Let me show you," Aqua said. She held out her hand and summoned the Master Keeper. Ozpin actually looked genuinely surprised that she summoned a weapon out of thin air.

"Interesting," he said, eyes still wide. He quickly composed himself. "I've never heard of a weapon like that, and I am, shall we say, _very_ well-versed in the history and folklore of Remnant. Tell me, how did you come by this 'Keyblade'?"

"I didn't really 'come by' it. The Keyblade chooses who gets to wield it." Aqua dismissed her Keyblade after saying this.

"What?" Qrow asked. "You mean the weapon is sentient?"

"Honestly, I'm not really sure how it works."

"And whatever the criteria is, you met it at an early age and that Keyblade chose you to wield it," Ozpin surmised.

"That's the gist of it," said Aqua. "Although this one technically isn't mine. I lost my original Keyblade. This was my Master's but I inherited it when he…" she trailed off, the painful memory of learning of her beloved Master's death still fresh in her mind. The man that raised her, that taught her everything she knew. And then he was killed. And by Terra's own admission, he had helped Xehanort kill him. What had happened to her friend. She couldn't help the pang of guilt that arose. If only she had done more to help Terra.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Ozpin expressed condolences. "Back to the topic at hand, there was one occurrence that really made me wonder. You used your magic to heal yourself. Why was that necessary? Why didn't your Aura protect you?"

"My Aura?" Aqua questioned.

"Do you know what an Aura is?" Aqua shook her head. "What about Semblances?" She shook her head again. Ozpin and Qrow shared a look.

"Where did you say you were from again?" Qrow asked.

"Very far away?" Aqua offered uncertainly.

"'Very far away' as in, 'not from Remnant'?" Ozpin asked. Aqua immediately froze. She wasn't supposed to tell anyone about other worlds, to maintain the world order, but he had somehow figured it out. Aqua could only stare dumbly at the man before her.

"How did you know I'm not from Remnant?"

"I didn't. You just told me." Aqua was dumbfounded. The existence of other worlds was the most closely-guarded secret to any Keyblade wielder, particularly one of Aqua's rank, but somehow this man, this "Professor Ozpin" had managed to _guess_ it! Was she really _that_ bad at keeping it a secret, or was he just that good?

"I seem to have struck a nerve," the professor said to her. "I am sorry. I didn't mean to cause you distress."

"I'm fine," she said after a few seconds. "I just wasn't expecting you to guess the one thing I'm never supposed to tell anyone about."

"So, why don't you tell us how you arrived in Remnant?" She sighed deeply before answering his question.

"You might want to strap in. It's a long story."

"I suppose it's a good thing that I'm a fan of long stories," Ozpin said with a smirk.

"Ages ago, our world was once one," Aqua began. Ozpin leaned forward in his chair, clearly paying close attention. "The world was filled with Light, and the people were happy. At the time, there were countless Keyblade wielders. For reasons we still don't fully understand, the Keyblade wielders eventually began to fight over control of the Light, which caused Darkness to form in their hearts. This conflict eventually exploded into the Keyblade War. In the course of the War, a powerful weapon called the X-Blade was forged."

"Keyblade?" Ozpin asked.

"No, X-Blade," Aqua said, making an "X" shape with her index fingers. "I know, it's confusing. Anyway, the X-Blade was used to Summon Kingdom Hearts, the source of all Light. But by then, the Darkness had grown too powerful. Kingdom Hearts was swallowed up, and the world was destroyed by the Darkness. There were small amounts of light that survived, and the people the light belonged to used it to rebuild the world in a fragmented state."

"What do you mean by 'fragmented'?" Ozpin asked.

"The world was separated into distinct domains, which were then walled off, to guarantee that if one of them fell to Darkness, it would stay contained. This also divided the world into two Realms: The Realm of Light, and the Realm of Darkness. I was born in the Realm of Light, and ended up here after falling into the Realm of Darkness." As she finished her story, both men looked at her. Qrow was looking at her with incredulity, but Ozpin's expression was much harder to read.

"What a fascinating story," Ozpin said after a few seconds. "I never would have guessed that other worlds exist besides our own."

"There's a reason for that," Aqua said quietly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Qrow asked.

"During my training, I was told explicitly that the world order must be maintained. One of the main ways to maintain that is to never mention that other worlds exist, but I guess that doesn't matter anymore."

"So, since you came from another world, I assume that means you can leave this world whenever you feel like it?" Ozpin asked.

"I don't think I can. I lost the means to travel between worlds." She was referring to the losses of both her armor, which protected her from the Darkness in the Lanes Between, and her original Keyblade, the Rainfell, as without it, she no longer had a Keyblade Glider. And there was a bigger problem. "Even if I had my original means of travel, I got to this world by falling into the Realm of Darkness, so I assume that it's located in that Realm. Normally, travel between Realms is impossible, or at least I don't know how to do it."

"Then how did you cross Realms to get here?" Qrow asked.

"Someone else opened a portal and I followed him in. He returned to the Realm of Light and I was left behind, so the only way I'm leaving is if he learns where I am and comes back for me." _And hopefully by then, Terra will be back in control_, she thought.

"So basically, you're stuck here," Qrow said.

"Basically."

"Well," Ozpin said, "I'm sorry to hear that, but I think we can work with that. I have a proposition for you, if you'll hear it." Aqua didn't like the sound of that.

"What kind of proposition?" she asked warily.

"There is a, let's say, growing darkness in Remnant. It threatens to destroy humanity and everything we stand for and built. I'm looking for particularly strong warriors to join me in helping to put a stop to it. I would be honored if you agreed to help us."

This was what Aqua was afraid of. Getting roped into another world's problems. She knew she had to refuse. Her teachings forbade getting involved. Besides, she still needed to convince Taiyang to let her train Ruby. She didn't have the time to get involved in something like this. There was only one way that she could help.

"This growing darkness you mentioned," she said. "Is it from Remnant?"

"I think you might be the only thing that isn't," he replied with a small smirk.

"Then no, I can't." His smirk disappeared.

"Can I ask why not?"

"World order," she said simply. "I can only get involved if the threat to a world is foreign. Otherwise, I have to let the locals handle it."

"Surely with your power, you could help any world that is in trouble," Ozpin tried to argue.

"And if we get involved too much, the worlds would begin to rely too much on our power, and we can't be there every time. The people of the worlds would quickly forget how to help themselves." Ozpin stared at her, clearly disappointed by her answer.

"Is there any way I could convince you otherwise?"

"It would go against everything I've been taught."

"Then I suppose there's nothing else to say," Ozpin said as he stood up. "It was nice to meet you, Miss Eraqus."

"I'm genuinely sorry that I couldn't be of help." Just then, they heard a ringing sound. Qrow reached into his pocket and pulled out a small device that appeared to be a white rectangle. He pressed a button on the center, and it expanded, a clear screen filling the space between the thin white lines at the ends. He held the device up to his ear.

"Hello?" he asked into the device. Aqua had no clue what he was doing. "Yang? What's wrong?" He listened for a few moments, and then his eyes widened. "What?! We'll be right there! Just hold on!" He put the device back in his pocket, and looked at Aqua. "Come on, Wonder Woman!" he called to her. "Looks like those Heartless things are back!"

* * *

Aqua and Qrow ran back to the Xiao-Long/Rose Household as fast as they could. When they made it to the front yard, they were met with a truly distressing sight.

There were several Heartless attacking the family. Taiyang was unarmed, doing his best to try to fight them off with his bare hands. Yang was taking cover behind him. Ruby was a small distance away from the other two, and was surrounded by some of the Heartless. She had managed to summon her Keyblade, most likely purely on instinct, and was flailing it wildly to keep the Heartless at bay. There were two varieties of Heartless. The Shadows from the woods the day before, and a taller variety. They were more humanoid-looking, with distinct arms and legs, claws at the ends of their fingers, long antennae sticking out of the top of their heads, and they had the same bright yellow eyes as the Shadows. These Heartless were called Neoshadows. There were four of them, and they were all surrounding Ruby.

"There you two are!" Taiyang said in relief.

"Uncle Qrow!" The girls called out in unison.

Qrow drew his sword and Aqua summoned the Master Keeper.

"Qrow! Help Taiyang and Yang!" Aqua yelled. "I've got Ruby!" Qrow nodded in confirmation, and they both charged at their respective targets.

Aqua raised her Keyblade to strike at one of the Neoshadows, but it retreated into the ground as she swung. Instead of letting that stop her, she just kept up her momentum and attacked a different target. She swung as hard as hard as she could, impacting the new Neoshadow in the chest, sending it flying. While it was in midair, she pointed her Keyblade at it.

"Freeze!" she shouted, and several large crystals of ice flew towards the Neoshadow, freezing it solid, where it fell harmlessly to the ground. She would finish it off later.

The first Neoshadow was still in the ground, so she turned her attention to the remaining two. One of them tried to swipe at her, but she propelled herself to the side, causing the creature's claws to pass by harmlessly. She delivered a series of attacks with her Keyblade to the creature's chest, causing it to fade away in a puff of black smoke. She noticed that the first Neoshadow was about to surface so she grabbed the other one by the antenna, jumped up into the air, and hurled the creature into the first one as it resurfaced. While both creatures were stunned, she grabbed her Keyblade with both hands and slashed through both of them on the way to the ground, killing both monsters. Finally, she looked back at the Neoshadow she had frozen earlier, and threw her Keyblade at it with all her might, shattering the Heartless instantly. Her weapon dissipated as it hit the ground and reappeared in her hand.

She looked at the two men, and saw that they had finished off the smaller Shadows. Taiyang breathed a sigh of relief and checked to see if Yang was OK, while Qrow took a quick survey of the area to make sure that there were no more Heartless. Aqua dismissed her Keyblade and then heard a high-pitched squeal next to her.

"THAT WAS SO COOL!" Ruby yelled excitedly, jumping up and down next to Aqua. Her Keyblade had been dismissed as well. "You were all like 'Hwaaaaa'," she said, swinging her empty arms as if she had a sword in her hands. "And then you all 'Wa-cha'!" She continued to mimic the blue-haired woman's actions. Aqua giggled while she watched the red-clad girl. She really was precious. That wasn't entirely what caught Aqua's attention, though.

_I never noticed it before_, she thought, _but the Light that this girl carries really is incredible._

Yang ran past Aqua and practically tackled her little sister in a hug, clearly full of relief that Ruby was safe. Taiyang and Qrow walked towards her.

"Damn, Wonder Woman," Qrow said. "That was impressive." Taiyang just looked at her in shock. "And I thought the stuff you pulled yesterday was good." Taiyang finally seemed to snap out of his stupor.

"That was incredible," he said. "How did you do all that?"

"It's thanks to the Keyblade," she answered solemnly, hoping he'd get the hint.

"So this is the kind of stuff Ruby will be capable of?" he asked.

"Right." He appeared to be in thought. He snapped out of it quickly.

"Anyway, that's twice that you've saved my daughters. I don't think there's any way I can thank you enough."

"I told you last time, you don't have to thank me." She suddenly felt something slam into her leg, so she looked down and saw that Yang had tightly wrapped her arms around her leg in a hug. Ruby looked at her for a second, and then hugged Aqua's other leg.

"Thank you," Yang said. "You saved us again."

"Yeah, thanks," Ruby said.

"It was no problem. I couldn't let those monsters gobble up such adorable girls," she said playfully, causing the sisters to giggle.

"Those things were here for Ruby, weren't they?" Taiyang asked her.

"Yes," Aqua answered solemnly. "They were drawn to her Keyblade." He didn't say anything in response to this. Suddenly, the three adults heard loud grumbling sounds coming from the stomachs of the two girls.

"Tai, seriously?" Qrow asked, completely flabbergasted. Tai looked down in total shame. "When was the last time they ate?"

"I know, all right?!" Tai snapped. "I fucked up!"

"Swear," Ruby said innocently. His daughter's voice instantly dissolved Taiyang's anger.

"I'm sorry," he said. His tone sounded like a man completely defeated.

"Look, Tai," Qrow said. "Why don't Wonder Woman and I take the girls off your hands for a little bit? You look like you need it." Taiyang was quiet for a few seconds.

"Fine," he said finally.

"Is it OK?" Aqua asked. "I don't want to overstep."

"It's fine for you to take the girls for a little bit, as long as Qrow is with you. If I'm being honest, today gave me a lot to think about." Qrow looked down to the sisters, who had finally let go of Aqua's legs.

"You hear that, girls?" he asked. "You get to hang out with Aqua and your favorite uncle."

"Yay!" Ruby yelled excitedly. "We get to spend time with Miss Aqua!" Yang seemed happy, too, though not quite as enthusiastic.

"Please, Ruby, just call me 'Aqua'," The blue-haired woman said. "You calling me 'Miss' makes me feel old."

"OK!" the girl said, her usual cheery demeanor still firmly in place.

"How old are you anyway?" Qrow asked, making Aqua blush.

"You don't just ask a girl how old she is," she said sheepishly. She didn't notice, but Qrow actually blushed a little bit as well at seeing her embarrassed. "But if you must know, I'm 18."

"Wow," he said. "And you're already this strong?"

"Yeah," she said, still a little embarrassed to be getting so much praise. "I've had years of practice. Plus, you know, ancient mystical weapon and all that. But, thanks."

"No problem. Now, come on. Let's get the girls something to eat." Aqua nodded her head, and the two of them began to lead the girls into town. Aqua saw movement in the corner of her eye.

Looking up, she saw a singular black bird perched on a tree branch. A raven, if she wasn't mistaken. Only this one had blood red eyes. And it was staring right at her. It watched her for a few seconds before taking off.

* * *

Qrow had to admit, circumstances notwithstanding, it was nice just going out to eat with his nieces. Aqua, too. He was very wary when she first appeared the day before, and if he was being honest, he still was a little bit. Could you blame him? The girl had just shown up out of nowhere with a mysterious power. He initially thought she was a new Spring Maiden, since the current one disappeared and she clearly used magic, but he never would've guessed that she was from another world. There was always the possibility that she was still a threat, but he wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt. After all, she had saved his nieces twice in two days. If that didn't earn her his trust, nothing would. Plus, Ruby seemed to really like her. He supposed he would just have to keep a close eye on her, then.

It was a good thing she was easy on the eyes. He couldn't help but steal glances at her. Thankfully, he had walked behind her. Not only did it mean she couldn't see where he was looking, it gave him a fantastic view of her backside. Her shorts were very tight, and her stockings left just enough thigh exposed. And now that she was sitting in front of him, he had full view of her chest. Qrow silently thanked whatever deities are still out there that she told him she was 18. Otherwise, what he was doing would've been much creepier.

The four of them were sitting in a booth at a burger joint, Qrow and Yang on one side, Aqua and Ruby on the other. The young girl was bombarding the poor woman with questions, but Qrow had to admit, she was handling it like a champ. When Ruby gets excited about something, not many people can stand to be around her. But Aqua was answering her questions with the same pleasant smile on her face the whole time.

Wonder Woman just kept impressing him.

"How did you freeze that monster?" Ruby asked. "Was it your Sem—Sembl—"

"Semblance," Qrow helped.

"Yeah, that!" Aqua looked at the girl with a playful expression on her face.

"Can you keep a secret?" she asked the girl.

"Yeah! I'm great at keeping secrets!" The girl said. "I never once told my daddy that me and Yang sneak a look at our birthday presents every year."

"Ruby!" Yang said through gritted teeth, trying to get her to stop talking.

"You two do what now?" Qrow asked, his eyebrow raised.

"Nothing…" Ruby said sheepishly. Aqua giggled. Oh yeah, her laugh was cute, too.

"Are you _sure _you can keep a secret?"

"OK that doesn't count," Ruby pouted.

"OK, I guess I'll tell you," Aqua said with a sly smile on her face. "It was _magic_." Ruby gasped, a huge smile plastering itself on her face.

"Really?" she said excitedly.

"No way," Yang said. "Magic doesn't exist." Qrow couldn't help but chuckle at his older niece's attempt at being grown-up by pretending she didn't believe in magic. "What's so funny, Uncle Qrow?" she asked.

"She's telling the truth," Qrow told the blonde-haired girl. "It really was magic. Yesterday she used fire and healed herself. No Semblance can do all of that."

"Really?" Yang asked in disbelief.

"Soooooooo coooooooool," Ruby drawled, looking at Aqua with sheer awe in her eyes.

"Do you want to know the best part, Ruby?" Aqua asked. The girl nodded her head rapidly. Qrow wondered how she didn't give herself whiplash. "You can do it, too." That made Qrow pause.

"I can?"

"Yup. That weapon you summoned? It's called a Keyblade. I have one, too. It's a ancient, mythical weapon that gives its wielders many amazing abilities. One of them is the ability to use magic. Real magic. With training, you can do it, too." Ruby had stopped asking any questions, and just stared at the woman with the biggest smile Qrow had ever seen, and there were practically stars in her eyes. But something Aqua said bothered him. What did she mean by "training"? She didn't seriously expect to train Ruby, did she? She was only five. This might present a problem.

He pulled out his flask and took a swig.

* * *

At Qrow's suggestion, Aqua had taken the girls back to her hotel room, their Uncle in tow. He really was serious about them taking the girls off Taiyang's hands for a bit. The girls were sitting next to each other on Aqua's bed, watching a movie on her T.V. Aqua and Qrow were seated at the table near the bed, but they could also see the movie. According to Yang, it was an action movie starring an actor named Spruce Willis, in which his character is a cop that gets caught up in a terrorist takeover of an office building. She thought it was far too violent for kids their age to be watching, but Qrow seemed to think it was OK.

Aqua still wasn't sure what to think about the girls' uncle. He clearly cared a lot about them, but he also came across as very irresponsible, what with his drinking and letting them watch this Spruce Willis movie. Granted, she had only known him for two days, so she supposed she shouldn't judge him yet. Then again, it's not like she was a good judge of character in the first place.

After all, she had trusted Xehanort, hadn't she?

She reached into her pocket and pulled out her wayfinder. Just like last night, she held it up in front of her face, letting the lamp light reflect on the glass.

"What's that?" Yang asked, snapping Aqua out of her trance. "It's really pretty."

"It's a good-luck charm I guess," she said.

"Does it work?" Ruby asked.

"Don't know yet. I made one for my two friends. These were supposed to help us find each other, but…" she looked down to the floor, letting her sentence trail off.

"It'll work," Ruby declared very matter-of-factly. Aqua looked at her confused. "You just need to believe it'll work, and it will. You'll see them again." A smile crept its way onto Aqua's face.

"Thank you, Ruby," she said. The girl gave her a huge smile back, and went back to watching the movie. Aqua stood up and began to move towards the balcony. "I'm gonna get some fresh air," she said as she opened the door and stepped outside.

She leaned up against the railing, holding the Wayfinder up to the moonlight again.

_Terra, Ven_, she thought. _Will we see each other again? I hope we will._

_But do I deserve to see you again?_ After all, if she was stronger, none of this would have happened.

If she hadn't been knocked unconscious, Ven wouldn't have been possessed and wouldn't have lost his heart. If she was stronger, she might have been able to stop Xehanort. If she was faster, she could have saved Terra, and not been trapped here. If she just told Terra, then she…

"Means a lot to you, huh?" a gruff voice said suddenly, causing Aqua to yelp in surprise. She turned to the side and saw Qrow standing next to her. He chuckled. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Aqua took a few deep breaths to calm herself down.

"What's up?" she asked.

"You're looking at that thing like you've got stuff to get off your chest. Wanna talk about it?"

"Are you sure you want to hear it?"

"I'm a good listener."

"OK then. I made Wayfinders like this one for my friends. We trained together. Their names are Terra and Ven. Ven was like a little brother to me, and Terra, well…" She looked off with a sad smile on her face, blushing a little at the thought. "I like to think we could have been more than friends."

"What happened to them?" Her smile disappeared.

"Ven is asleep right now. He lost a part of himself. He's safe, but I don't how to wake him up.

"And what about Terra?"

"The last time I saw him, he wasn't himself. I know he's still in there somewhere. I just wonder if things could've turned out differently if I just told him how I felt?" Qrow took a swig from his flask.

"I know the feeling," he said.

"What do you mean?"

"All I'm gonna say is that I've been mourning the loss of Summer longer than anybody else," he said, taking another drink. "Anyway, what were you at Tai's house for earlier?"

"I was asking him to let me train Ruby to use her Keyblade."

"Beg pardon?"

"You saw what happened. The Heartless were at their house because they sensed Ruby's Keyblade. She has to learn how to use it or they'll kill her."

"Makes sense, I guess. How'd he take it?"

"He said no. Several times."

"Figured," he said, placing his hands on the railing on the balcony. For some reason, he seemed to be gripping the railing so tightly his knuckles turned white. He relaxed a few seconds later. "So, you can really teach her how to do all that stuff?"

"I can. I promise."

"Fine." Aqua sighed in relief. "I'll talk to Tai in the morning."

"Thank you so much, Qrow," Aqua said, grasping his hands in gratitude. He blushed. "I won't let you down." She realized a second later that she had grabbed his hands, and quickly let go, blushing profusely.

"No problem," he coughed in embarrassment. "Now let's get back inside. Is it cool with you if the girls stay here tonight?"

"Yeah, it's fine."

_I swear I will do all that I can to help that girl. I have to get this right._ The two of them walked back into the room, where it looked like to movie was starting to wrap up.

"Hey girls," Qrow said. "Looks like you're gonna be staying with Aqua tonight." The girls visibly perked up at hearing that. "I'll head back to your house to pack a bag and be right back."

"Uncle Qrow," Yang called. "Can you get a book so I can read Ruby a bedtime story?"

"Sure, kiddo. Which one?"

"The Four Seasons."

**AN: And that's Chapter 2! I hope you guys enjoyed the Die Hard reference.**

**So, we've got a little foreshadowing to future events. A certain character will show up soon, and there seems to be something going on with Qrow. I have plans for the character I teased.**

**Since a lot of you were looking forward to Aqua info-dumping Ozpin, I had to get a bit creative with him finding out about the other worlds, since Aqua can't tell anyone. So, he used the fact that she knows so little about Remnant and cryptically said that she's from really far away, and guessed that she was from another world.**

**If you guys have suggestion for how I can improve my writing, they are very welcome and much appreciated. **

**Thank you guys for reading. See you all next chapter!**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Slightly shorter chapter this time. I really appreciate all the love this story has gotten, and I hope you guys enjoy this chapter.**

Chapter 3

Aqua slowly opened her eyes in response to the morning light coming in through the window of her hotel room. For some reason, she had a fairly substantial pain in her back. As she took a look at her surroundings, she remembered why. She had slept on the couch the night before, since Ruby and Yang had slept in her bed. She got up slowly, raising her arms and stretching her back out as she did so. She felt her joints give a satisfying "pop" and the pain in her back subsided. She gave a satisfied grunt as she put her arms down. She looked over to her bed and saw the sisters cuddled up next to each other. Aqua gave a small smile at the adorable scene and looked at the book on the nightstand next to Yang. It was the one the older girl had read to her sister the night before. The Four Seasons.

Since she was sleeping in the same room as them, she listened as well as Yang read the interesting story. Aqua found she liked the story about four sisters that convince an old wizard to leave his cabin and restore his faith in the world, and they were rewarded with special powers corresponding to one of the four seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. As much as she enjoyed the story, she couldn't escape the problem that was her lack of knowledge of anything related to Remnant. If she was going to train Ruby, she was going to have to learn all she could about her apparent new home.

She was taken out of her thoughts by a small moaning sound. Speaking of Ruby, Aqua looked and saw the little black-and-red-haired girl slowly start to wake up, her silver eyes fluttering open. She took a look around, clearly surprised to be waking up in a strange location, but quickly remembered where she had slept the night before.

"Good morning, Ruby," Aqua greeted the girl. Ruby looked up at the blue-haired woman and smiled brightly.

"Morning, Aqua," she returned the greeting.

"Did you sleep well?" the older woman asked. Ruby nodded her head in response.

"The bed was super comfy."

Evidently, their talking was a bit too loud, as they could hear Yang beginning to stir as well.

"Good morning, Yang!" Ruby yelled suddenly, wrapping her arms around her older sister, startling the older girl in the process.

"Hey, sis," Yang greeted. Then she saw Aqua standing nearby smiling at them. "Morning, Aqua."

"Good morning," Aqua greeted.

"Thanks for letting us stay here last night," the blonde girl said. "It was a lot of fun."

"You don't need to thank me," Aqua said for what felt like the thousandth time. "Anyway, why don't you girls get cleaned up? I'll get us some breakfast." The girls got up off the bed and walked into the bathroom of Aqua's room to get cleaned, and Aqua walked over to the nightstand to pick up the small white device. According to Qrow, it was called a "Scroll", and it was provided by the hotel for the duration of her stay. Luckily, Qrow had shown her how to use it the night before when he came back with the girls' stuff.

The technology in this world really was something else. She never would have imagined such a little device was capable of all the functions that these so-called "Scrolls" were. From long-distance communication, to computing, to video games, it seemed that there was nothing these little devices couldn't do. And none of its functions were in any way familiar to the blue-haired woman.

She recalled the crash course Qrow gave her on how to use the communication function, and called the front desk of the hotel to have breakfast brought up to the room for herself and the two sisters.

* * *

Aqua was seated at the table with Ruby and Yang, and the trio was enjoying the bacon and eggs that the hotel staff had brought to the room, when they heard a knock. Getting up to open the door, Aqua was surprised to see that it was Qrow.

"Hey there, Wonder Woman," he greeted.

"Qrow?" she asked. "What are you doing here so early?"

"I wanted to talk to you." She stepped aside to let him in, and he smiled at his nieces. "Hey, girls."

"Hi, Uncle Qrow!" they greeted happily.

"How was sleeping here?"

"It was really fun," Yang said.

"Yeah!" Ruby agreed. "Aqua's super nice!" Qrow sent a quick glance Aqua's way at the praise, while Aqua smiled sweetly at the girls.

"Anyway," the older Huntsman said, "Let's get down to business." He sat down at the table, and Aqua sat down across from him, with Ruby and Yang on either side. "So, before I talk to Tai, just to make sure, your offer still stands?" As if there was ever any doubt in Aqua's mind.

"Of course."

"What offer?" Yang asked.

"Yeah," Ruby said. "What are you guys talking about?" Aqua and Qrow shared a glance for a second before turning to the younger girl.

"Wonder Woman here offered to train you to use that special weapon of yours," Qrow told the girl.

"Really?!" she asked, with stars in her eyes.

"Yeah," Aqua said. "I'm a Master of the Keyblade after all. Part of my responsibilities as a Master is training the next generation. And you're it." The little girl practically squealed in excitement.

"That's so cool, Ruby!" Yang said.

"Yeah, it is pretty cool," Qrow agreed. "But, your old man isn't convinced."

"Why not?" Ruby asked.

"He thinks it's too dangerous," Aqua answered.

"So that's where I come in," Qrow reassured the young girl. "I'll get him to listen to reason. You'll be using that Keyblade like a pro before you know it." Ruby practically jumped out of her chair to wrap her arms around her uncle.

"Thank you, Uncle Qrow!" the girl shouted. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"You know, normally I would tell you to thank Aqua," the man chuckled, "But since she doesn't seem to want any, I'll take it this time," he said with a smirk, returning his youngest niece's hug.

"Thanks for agreeing to talk to him, Qrow," Aqua told the older Huntsman.

"No problem," he said. "You said it yourself. This is something she needs to learn how to do. I just have one condition." Aqua raised an eyebrow. What was this about? He had never said anything about a condition before.

"And what's that?" she asked.

"Start letting us thank you," he said plainly, taking Aqua by surprise. "You keep doing so much for our family, let us at least thank you for it." She looked at him for a few seconds before laughing lightly, placing her hand in front of her mouth as she did so.

"Fine," she said. "you win."

"In that case," he said, smiling at her, "thank you."

"You're welcome," she said, grinning at him.

"So, now that that's out of the way, what are your plans for today while I talk to Tai?"

"To be honest, I have a lot of reading to do. There's quite a bit about this world that I'm completely clueless about."

"If by 'quite a bit' you mean 'absolutely everything', then I'd say yeah, you have a lot to learn."

"Oh, ha, ha," she said sarcastically. "Well, do you know where I can go to read up?"

"Yeah, I know a place."

* * *

Qrow was approaching the front door to the Xiao-Long/Rose household, flask in his hand. He had shown Aqua and the girls to Patch's library, and then headed straight to the cabin to talk to Tai. He had one mission: to convince Tai to let Aqua train Ruby. If he was being honest with himself, a part of him didn't want to allow this. After all, Ruby was only five years old. Even in a world as messed up and dangerous as Remnant, they still at least typically waited until a kid was 13 and started combat school before their training began in earnest. However, the part of him that was against the idea ultimately lost out to the part of him that knew how important Ruby's training was. He had experienced on more than one occasion just how dangerous the Heartless were, and if it was true what Aqua had told him, then those monsters were instinctively attracted to his niece. Learning how to use that fancy new weapon of hers was no longer a matter of just getting a head start on her becoming a Huntress.

It was a matter of survival.

He took a swig from his flask before opening the door and stepping inside. He was greeted with an all-too-familiar sight.

Tai was sitting in his chair, a half-empty bottle of whiskey in his hand.

It was pathetic. Qrow knew that Tai was going through a lot, but he was finding it a little hard to garner sympathy for his brother-in-law. Just looking at him was starting to make the prospect of quitting drinking seem much more appealing to the black-haired Huntsman.

He walked into the living room, clearing his throat loudly to get the blond man's attention.

"Oh, hey, Qrow," Tai drawled. "How were the girls last night? They stayed with Aqua, right?" Did he seriously not remember where they were the night before? "She's really done a lot for us lately, huh?"

"Yeah, she has," Qrow said. "She actually sent me here to talk to you."

"What about?"

"Training Ruby."

"That nonsense again?" Tai asked.

"Nonsense?" Qrow asked incredulously. "She told me you had said 'no', but I didn't think it was that bad."

"Qrow, she's five," Tai stated as if it was the most obvious thing on the planet. "It's too dangerous. There's a reason we wait until kids are 13 before we start training them."

"You think I don't know that?" Qrow asked, starting to get a little bit angry. "You saw the things she's up against. I'm not crazy about the idea either, but training her is the best chance she's got."

"No, Qrow!" Tai said, raising his voice a bit. "There are so many reasons why unlocking the Aura on a kid that young is a bad idea."

"She won't be unlocking her Aura," Qrow said simply.

"…What?"

"She won't be unlocking her Aura. Aqua's isn't."

"Are you seriously trying to tell me that Aqua doesn't have her Aura unlocked? After all that stuff she did in my yard yesterday?"

"It wasn't Aura that lets her do that. She told you that fancy Keyblade of hers is what let her do all that. She wasn't kidding. She did all that without her Aura unlocked."

"How do you know?"

"She took a hit from a Beowolf out in the woods the other day. Its claws cut right into her back. No protection at all. Plus, she doesn't even know what Aura is."

"Well if she's going to be learning how to fight and won't have any Aura, I'm definitely not letting her."

Damn it.

"Tai, what the hell?" Qrow asked incredulously. "You didn't want to do it with Aura, and you don't want her to do it Aura-less. Make up your damn mind."

"Qrow, she said that those monsters are going to come after her."

"Which is why she needs to learn how to protect herself."

"And what if there's an accident? She won't have Aura to protect her."

"I really don't think that will be a problem. I've seen what Aqua can do. I think she can keep her safe."

"I won't allow it!" Tai finally shouted.

"Why are you being so paranoid?" Qrow practically growled.

"Can you blame me?" Tai asked. "I just lost Summer. I won't risk losing Ruby too." Qrow's fist clenched and his mouth contorted into a snarl. "Qrow? Why are looking at me like that?"

"You selfish prick," Qrow practically growled.

"What?!" Tai asked. "How am I being selfish?"

"Because, _Tai_," Qrow said his name with pure venom in his voice, "you aren't the only one that lost Summer!"

Tai just stood there, mouth open in shock.

"You love to act like you're the only one that's hurting," Qrow continued. "That you're the only one that misses her. Well you're not. Ruby and Yang miss her, too. They've needed you now more than ever, and you're too caught up in your own grief to help them with theirs. And I…" He trailed off, clenching his fists.

"And you what?" Tai asked.

"I've spent the last five years of my life missing Summer."

"What do you me—" Tai began, before his eyes widened in realization. "Oh."

"Yeah," Qrow said bitterly. "'Oh'."

"Is that what this is about?" Tai asked. "You're still mad about that?"

"No. It's my own fault that I never told her how I felt. She fell for you and you needed comfort after Raven left. I don't blame you for that, and I decided a long time ago that as long as she was happy with you, I could get over it. But now that she's gone, you can't be bothered to take of the daughter that she left behind for you. Hers or Raven's. They are all that either of us have left of those two. Now, as someone else that loved Summer and loves those little girls, listen to me when I tell you that what Aqua is offering is the best option. So please, Tai, let her teach Ruby." Tai sat in silence for a few seconds.

"Qrow," he said finally. "I'm sorry. I know you're right, but I'm just too scared. I don't know what the right answer is."

"You remember," Qrow said with a smirk, "back at Beacon, whenever we got into an argument, how we'd settle things?"

"Yeah, I do," Tai said.

"Since you're still on the fence, why don't we let fate decide? If I win, then Aqua trains Ruby. If you win, she doesn't."

Tai sat for a few minutes before sighing and standing up. "Fair enough," he said. "Let's do it."

* * *

Aqua was sitting at the table of her room, a pile of books in front of her that she got from the library. Ruby and Yang were once again on her bed, reading comic books called "X-Ray and Vav". Aqua had spent the last several hours reading all she could about Remnant.

The first thing she read about was this so-called "Aura". She had heard Qrow and Ozpin mention it enough times that she definitely had to make sure she knew what it was. According to the book, Aura was the power of one's soul made manifest. It provided a level of protection from harm, enhanced one's abilities, healed injuries quickly, and even provided enhanced senses. The concept of power originating from the soul rather than the Heart was admittedly a foreign concept to the Keyblade Master. She began to consider how she could unlock hers, which the book stated could be done by someone else that had theirs unlocked. Despite all the power the Keyblade granted her, Aqua couldn't deny that having one certainly sounded helpful.

Especially since she learned that having one's Aura unlocked could eventually lead to unlocking a Semblance, which is a special ability unique to the individual, shaped by his or her personality. Aqua began to wonder what her Semblance might be if she had her Aura unlocked. If both herself and Ruby had Auras and Semblances, then they could quite possibly become the strongest Keyblade wielders to ever exist. It was certainly tempting.

More disturbing was the creatures of Grimm. They were, on the surface, fairly similar to the Heartless in that they are attracted to negative emotions, but while the Heartless attempted to steal Hearts, the Grimm's sole purpose seemed to be the wholesale slaughter of any humans and Faunus they could find.

Ah, yes. The Faunus. The most interesting find out of all the books she took out. The Faunus were a race of humans with a single animal trait, be it an extra set of ears or a tail. Sadly, they faced discrimination by the humans simply for being who they were. The state of the Faunus disgusted Aqua. Nobody should be treated like trash for the crime of existing. That was why she found that she had a lot of respect for the White Fang. According to her books, they were a fairly recent group that only appeared a few months ago. They were a Faunus-rights activist group that protested and boycotted to show the humans that they were equal. Aqua admired people willing to stand up for what was right.

She put the book she was reading down and looked at the sisters on her bed. They were sitting next to each other, Ruby reading the comics out loud and Yang helping her with any words she missed. Yang really was a great reader for a seven-year-old. While she watched them enjoy the antics of the two incompetent super-heroes, Aqua heard a knock on the door. She got up to answer it, and was not at all surprised to find Qrow on the other side.

No, what she was surprised to see was the older Huntsman with a black eye and a split lip.

"Qrow?" Aqua exclaimed in surprise. "What happened to you?"

"Tai and I got into a little disagreement," Qrow answered with a smirk. "I won, by the way."

"Hold on," she said, summoning her Keyblade. "I'll heal you." She raised her Keyblade and was about to cast Cure on him, but he held up his hand to stop her.

"Nope," he said simply.

"Why not?"

"To be honest, the thought of magic healing kinda freaks me out a little. No offense."

"Oh," she said, dismissing her Keyblade. "Well, at least let me patch you up the old-fashioned way." Again, he held up his hand to dismiss her.

"That isn't necessary. Once my Aura recharges, I'll be good to go."

"Well, how long does it take to recharge?"

"A few hours. At worst, I'll have to wait overnight."

"Does it hurt?" she asked.

"Well, yeah, of course," he said.

"Well then, come on," she said, grabbing him by the hand and beginning to drag him into the room. "I should have something here for the pain."

"Hey, wait, stop," he stuttered. She turned to look at him, sending him a glare that made him shiver in place for a second.

"Qrow," she said sternly, "You got injured because of what I asked you to do. The least I can do is treat your injuries. Now get inside."

"Yes, ma'am," he said sheepishly. She dragged him into the room and sat him down at the table. He sent a greeting to his nieces, who returned it and went right back to reading their comics, completely tuning out the world around them. He then looked at the pile of books on the table in front of him. "Damn, you really went all out on the research, didn't you?" He asked Aqua, who was retrieving the first-aid kit from under the kitchen sink.

"Well, of course," she said. "I have a lot of learning to do." She pulled out the kit, walked over to the table, pulled up a chair next to him, and placed the first-aid kit on the table. She opened up the kit and pulled out something that was labeled as an "instant cold compress". According to the directions, all she had to do was bend it half, and it would instantly become cold. She bent it, hearing a snapping sound come from the object. She handed it to Qrow. "Here," she said. "Put this on your eye." He took it from her and placed it over his bruised eye.

"Thanks," he said simply. She then reached back into the first-aid kit and pulled out a needle and some string. Qrow raised an eyebrow when he saw it. "You know how to stitch a wound closed?"

"Yeah," she said with a small laugh. "Ven used to go overboard all the time when we were training, so I always used to have to patch him up. Our Master wouldn't let us use magic to heal minor injuries during training, so we had to learn basic first aid. Well, more like _I_ had to learn basic first aid." Qrow chuckled at that.

"Well, have at it, Wonder Woman." She held the needle in front of her face and attempted to thread it. However, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't for the life of her get the string into the head of the needle. She tried several times before grunting in frustration.

"Ugh, what's going on? It hasn't been that long since I've done this."

"It's not your fault," Qrow said, and Aqua could've sworn she heard a hint of sadness in his voice for reasons she couldn't understand. "Probably just some bad luck. Here, let me do it." She handed him the needle and thread, and he got it on his first try. He handed it back to her, and she spent the next several minutes stitching the gap in his lip closed. He felt at the wound, nodded with approval at her handiwork, and sat back in his chair.

"So, what happened?"

"To make a long story short, Tai still wasn't convinced that you training Ruby was a good idea. We decided to settle it with a fist fight, and I won."

"Wait, so that means—" she said in excitement.

"Yup," he said with a smirk, "he agreed to let you train Ruby." He was suddenly almost knocked out of his chair as Aqua practically tackled him in a hug.

"Thank you, Qrow!" She yelled. "Thank you so much!"

"Hey, easy," he said in pain and with a blush. "You just patched me up, don't undo it." She let go of him and backed up, blushing profusely.

"Sorry," she said sheepishly.

"What's going on?" Yang asked. It seemed that the commotion they just made had finally gotten the girls' attention.

"Yeah," added Ruby. "How come you were hugging Uncle Qrow?"

"Well," Aqua said. "He gave me some really good news."

"Really?" Yang asked. "What was it?"

"As I was just finishing explaining, your dad is letting Aqua train Ruby to use that fancy Keyblade of hers," Qrow said with a smirk.

"Really?!" Ruby face instantly lit up.

"That's right," Aqua said. "Starting tomorrow, I'm going to be your teacher."

"YAY!" Ruby yelled and tackled Aqua in a hug. "Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!"

"Well, I'm glad you're so excited," Aqua said with a giggle.

"That's so cool, Ruby!" Yang said with excitement.

"You've got a pretty awesome little sister, huh Firecracker?" Qrow said, patting Yang on the head affectionately.

"Yeah, I do," Yang said with a huge smile on her face.

"Oh, Qrow," Aqua said. "Can I ask one more favor?"

"As long as it's not too much trouble."

"Don't worry, it's simple."

"Lay it on me."

"I want you to unlock my Aura."

* * *

In the forests of Mistral, there lied a bandit camp. It was full of members of the tribe drinking, sparring, playing games of chance. They were all minding their own business, having a great time, when a red and black portal suddenly opened up in the middle of camp and a woman strode out.

She had long black hair that reached her waist, held back by a red bandana. She wore a red and black top with a short black skirt. She had a bundle of black feathers hanging from her skirt, a red pouch on the right side of her hip, and red arm guards on her forearms. She wore black heels underneath black tights that reached her mid-thigh and flared out at the bottom. Attached to a black belt around her waist was a sheathe containing a very long sword. She wore multiple black necklaces around her neck, and most strikingly, she wore a white bird-like Grimm mask over her face. She took off her mask to reveal her blood-red eyes.

Her name was Raven Branwen, twin sister to Qrow Branwen, mother of Yang Xiao-Long, leader of the Branwen tribe of bandits, and, as of a few weeks ago, the new Spring Maiden, not that she was willing to let anyone find out about that. It really was a shame that the last Maiden had to die, but she more than proved that she couldn't pull her weight, so why shouldn't Raven have just taken her powers for herself? After all, the weak die, and the strong survive. She stepped out into the center of her camp, and the bandits around her stopped what they were doing to greet her. One of the senior members approached her.

"Welcome back," he greeted his leader. "How was your trip?"

"Enlightening," she said with a smirk. "That worthless brother of mine may have found something useful for once." She began walking towards her tent with the member of her tribe, walking past a cage with a young girl in it. They had found her wandering around in their territory, and were keeping her until they figured out what to do with her. She had black hair and amber-colored eyes. She was wearing a red dress that had torn in a few places. Raven approached the cage and took a look at the prisoner within. The girl was sitting with her head up against her knees. "And how is our little friend doing?" Raven asked, causing the girl to look up at her with a glare that could have melted stone. There was something about the girl's eyes that intrigued Raven. There was a certain spark that made Raven think that this girl could potentially be a valuable member of the tribe one day.

She just had to break her defiant attitude first.

"She still refuses to talk to anybody. We still don't even know what her name is," the tribesman said.

"I'm sure she'll come around in time," Raven smirked at her. The girl just glared. She turned around and began walking towards her own tent. "Get everyone packed up and ready to move. We're going to Patch."

**AN: So There's Chapter 3 in the bag. This chapter is mainly short because I decided to cut out the fight between Qrow and Tai, mainly because this chapter was already taking too long to be finished in my opinion. So, Aqua is going to start training Ruby, and Raven seems to be planning something. I have plans for the girl in the cage, and I'm pretty sure you guys can figure out who it is. **

**So, now that Aqua asked Qrow to unlock her Aura, there is just the question of what her Semblance could be. I'm going to leave that up to you guys. Send me some suggestions for what you think her Semblance should be, and I'll decide which one I like best. Also, do you think Ruby's Keyblade should just be called Crescent Rose like her scythe in canon, or should we go with a new name?**

**I hope you guys enjoyed, thank you so much for reading, and I'll see you all next time.**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: So I realized that in Chapter 1, I completely forgot that Ruby is left-handed. So I made sure to emphasize it here. In regards to what Aqua's Semblance is, I got quite a few responses and there was one answer that I got more than others, so I've decided on Aqua's Semblance. I'm thinking the reveal will be next chapter. **

**Anyway, here's Chapter 4! Enjoy!**

Chapter 4

Ruby Rose could hardly contain her excitement. Ever since she woke up that morning, she was practically bouncing all over the place in jubilation. Could you blame her? After all, today was the day that she started her training with Aqua.

She still had absolutely no idea what the Keyblade was, but hey, it looked awesome, and Aqua could do some really amazing stuff with it. And she was going to learn MAGIC! How cool was that?!

And so they were outside Ruby's house, about to start their training. It was very early in the morning, which would normally be a problem for the young girl, but she was just so excited that she practically flew out of bed.

The same couldn't be said for her older sister, however, whom Ruby had dragged out of bed to watch her train. The blonde girl was sitting off to the side, her hair disheveled, clearly trying her best to stay awake.

Aqua was standing across from her, and Ruby just couldn't hold it in anymore.

"What are we doing?" Ruby asked, jumping up and down excitedly. "Are we going to learn magic? I want to learn magic! Can we, can we, can we?"

"Ruby, shut up," Yang moaned from the side. "It's too early for this." Ruby just stuck her tongue out at her sister.

"Well, I can see someone's excited," Aqua said with a laugh. "No, Ruby, we're not going to start with magic." Ruby visibly deflated at that. "We have to work up to magic. You have to start with the basics first."

"Like what?" Ruby asked, her cheeks puffed out in indignation.

"Like how to fight," Aqua deadpanned. "How to summon the Keyblade, how to swing it, that kind of thing."

"Oh," Ruby said. "Well, I guess that sounds cool, too."

"Alright, are you ready?" The woman asked. Ruby nodded in response. "We're going to start with the basic of basics: Summoning the Keyblade at will. I'm assuming that the other times you summoned it was purely out of instinct, and not anything you did deliberately?" Again, Ruby nodded. "That was the weapon reacting to the presence of the Heartless."

"The weapon reacted?" Ruby asked, tilting her head slightly. "What does that mean?"

"It means that the Keyblade summoned itself to help you."

"How does a weapon summon itself?" Yang asked from the sidelines. "Isn't it just a hunk of metal?"

"The Keyblade is special," Aqua answered. "It basically has a mind of its own. It chooses who gets to use it, will call itself out when its wielder is in trouble, and will disappear if someone holds it that isn't supposed to."

"How does that work?" Ruby asked.

"To be honest, I have no idea how it does it," Aqua said rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. The sisters gave her deadpan looks at that. "What? I may be a Master, but that doesn't mean I know absolutely everything."

"Mm-hm," the sisters mumbled, unimpressed.

"A-anyway," Aqua said with an embarrassed cough. "Let's get started. Hold out your hand like this," Aqua held out her right outstretched in front of her. Ruby copied the action, but with her left hand. "A Keyblade wielder's power comes from their Heart."

"The Heart?" Ruby asked.

"Right. Our Hearts are the core of our being. It's where our emotions come from, it's a source of power, and it's what we draw on when we use the Keyblade. It's simple, all you have to do is call out to your Heart, and…" With a bright flash of light, her Keyblade appeared in her hand. "There we go."

Ruby just couldn't get over how cool that weapon was. The sleek black metal, the lightweight frame, it just screamed "Awesome".

"Alright," Aqua said. "Give it a try."

"How do I do that?" Ruby asked excitedly.

"You have to draw power from within. The easiest way that I found to do this at first is to close your eyes and focus your attention on your chest." Ruby closed her eyes like Aqua instructed, and focused.

"Now what?" She asked.

"Keep focusing, keep pulling your attention towards your chest until you feel a warmth." Ruby clenched her eyelids in concentration, but she couldn't feel anything. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to…

Oh, there it was. Just like Aqua said, she felt warmth radiating out from her chest.

"I feel it!" She said. "You're right, that was easy."

"Now," her teacher said, "I want you to imagine yourself grabbing hold of that warmth and pulling it up to the surface."

In Ruby's mind, she pictured a great fire, giving off a warm, bright glow. To Ruby, her inner strength roared as a mighty bonfire. She imagined herself approaching the bonfire, and reaching out a hand towards it. Reaching her hand towards a raging fire like that would normally be a horrible idea, but she was Ruby Rose, and it was her bonfire. She was a Keyblade Wielder, and no puny fire was going to beat her! She imagined herself grabbing hold of the flames themselves, and with a mighty yank, she began pulling the fire out of its pit. She felt the warmth pour through her body and towards her outstretched left hand. And finally…

Nothing.

Nothing happened. She felt the warmth, pulled it out like Aqua told her to, but no weapon appeared.

Why not? What had she done wrong?

She opened her eyes and looked at her left hand with a pout on her face.

Stupid hand. Not holding a Keyblade in it.

"Why didn't it work?" She whined to Aqua. For her part, the older woman looked just as confused as the girl.

"I don't know," her teacher answered. "The Keyblade should have answered your call."

"I did everything you said to," the girl kept whining, tears starting to form in her eyes. "Where's my Keyblade?"

"Give it another try," Aqua said, trying to calm the girl down.

And so Ruby tried again. She pictured the warmth, grabbed hold it, and pulled, and again, no Keyblade. Ruby was starting to get seriously frustrated.

"What am I doing wrong?" She asked.

"I'm not sure," Aqua responded, holding her chin in thought. "Once you've awakened your Keyblade, it should answer—" Her eyes widened as she came to a realization. "Awakened. That's it! Ruby, have you had any weird dreams lately?"

"No," the girl said. "Why?"

"Normally, a Keyblade Wielder is supposed to go through an Awakening. It usually happens in their dreams. If you haven't had that yet, then I think the Keyblade hasn't fully accepted you yet. You can't call it yourself until you go through it."

"Aw," Ruby whined, thoroughly disappointed. "How long will that take?"

"Since most people go through it before their Keyblade ever gets summoned," Aqua started, "it should happen pretty soon."

"OK," Ruby said, looking a little more cheerful than she was a moment ago. The two of them heard a loud yawn coming from Ruby's older sister.

"Well," Yang said, "That was a waste of time. I'm going back to bed." And with that, the blonde girl stood up and started walking back to the house.

"Yang!" Ruby called after her. "Wait up!"

* * *

Sinking.

That's all she could use to describe how she felt. Sinking onto a seemingly endless abyss.

Ruby had no idea how it happened, but she found herself surrounded by pure blackness. She looked around in a panic, hoping to find Yang, or her daddy, or Uncle Qrow, or Aqua. Anybody that might be able to help her. But she was alone.

She continued falling until she suddenly landed on her butt on something invisible. She slowly got up, rubbing the pain out of her backside. She looked around, but only saw the same black void that she fell down. She took a cautious step forward, when she was suddenly met by a blinding light. She had to momentarily shield her eyes, but then she saw that the light was coming from a flock of doves that seemed to appear straight from the floor, revealing the light underneath it. It was a truly beautiful sight. When all of the doves had flown away, it revealed that she was standing on what appeared to be a round stained-glass window. It was primarily red, and prominently featured an image of herself sleeping. There were three small circles containing portraits around her head. One of them had her big sister's smiling face, but the other two were unfamiliar to her. One was a girl with white hair and icy blue eyes. The other one seemed to be a black-haired cat Faunus girl with yellow eyes. She had no idea what that was supposed to mean, or how she got here.

"_So much to do, so little time_," a voice said in her head.

"Ah!" She shouted, looking around for the source of the voice. "Who said that?! Who's there?!"

"_Take your time_," the voice said. "_Don't be afraid_." It seemed the voice was planning to ignore her. Stupid voice. "_The light hasn't come back yet_."

"What light?" She asked the voice.

"_Now, step forward_," the voice continued, still not answering her. A ray of light appeared in the middle of the stained glass. "_Can you do it?_"

"Of course I can walk forward," she said, puffing up her cheeks indignantly. "Stupid voice, thinking I can't walk," she mumbled. She stepped into the ray of light with purpose, when she heard a rumbling sound. She looked around her, and saw three pedestals appear from out of the glass. A light shone above each one, and a sword, a shield, and some kind of rod appeared above them.

"_Power sleeps within you_," the voice said. "_If you give it form, it will give you strength. Choose well_."

"I'm not sure what most of that meant, but I'll give it a try," she said. She approached the pedestal with the shield on it and picked it up. On closer examination, it was primarily black, with a red outline and three red interconnected circles in the center. One of the circles was larger than the other two, which were positioned to the upper-right and upper-left.

"_The power of the guardian,_" the voice said. "_Kindness to aid friends. A shield to repel all. Is this the power you seek_?" Ruby thought about it for a second.

"Nah," she said, putting the shield back. She then approached the pedestal with the rod on it. Picking it up, she gave it a once-over. It was a short green rod with a golden end, and on top was the same three circles from the shield, only in blue.

"_The power of the mystic_," the voice explained. "_Inner strength. A staff of wonder and ruin. Is this the power you seek_?_"_

"I don't get it," she said, and with that, the power of the mystic was out. Finally, she walked over to the last remaining pedestal, the one with the sword. She had her eye on it since it appeared, and after picking it up, she could see why. It was a short, double-edged sword with a golden cross-guard emblazoned with the same three circles. It was a gorgeous weapon.

"_The power of the warrior_," the voice said. "_Invincible courage. A sword of terrible destruction. Is this the power you seek_?"

"Cool," Ruby drawled. "Yup, I want this one!" She said excitedly. The weapon suddenly disappeared from her hands, causing her to frown in disappointment. "Hey! Where'd it go?!"

"_Your path is set_," the voice said. "_Now, what will you give up in exchange_?" Ruby thought back to what the voice said about the other two weapons.

"You said something about 'kindness' when I had the shield," she said out loud to the voice. "Mommy and Daddy always told me to be kind, so I don't want to get rid of that. I guess I'll get rid of the stick thingy. I couldn't understand you anyway."

"_You've chosen the power of the warrior_," the voice said again. "_You've given up the power of the mystic. Is this the form you choose_?"

"Yup!" Ruby said cheerfully. As she said that, the pedestals lurched forward and sank back inside the glass. She looked at where they had been, and then her eyes widened as she saw the glass she was standing on rapidly beginning to deteriorate, beginning from the outside and working its way in. She could do nothing but wait in a panic as she finally lost her footing and fell. She fell for what felt like several minutes until she saw another stained-glass platform underneath her.

This one was primarily colored yellow, and featured her daddy, a sad expression on his face, and one of his bottles in his hand. He had two circles around his head, and they had other people's faces in them. One of them was an angry-looking lady that Ruby had never met. She had jet-black hair and blood-red eyes. The other picture…

Was her Mommy. Summer Rose. Ruby would recognize that black-red hair and those silver eyes anywhere. She got them from her, after all. However, her portrait was practically covered up with cracks. Just looking at it made Ruby sad. She didn't have time to dwell on it, though, as the sword suddenly reappeared in her left hand.

"_You have gained the power to fight_," the voice said. Ruby saw a slight movement out of the corner of her eye. She squinted at it to get a closer look. There was some kind of weird shadowy thing on the floor. "_There will be times you have to fight_," the voice continued, and Ruby could see that the shadow was starting to rise up out of the ground. It was one of those creatures from before. What did Aqua call them? Heartless? As she backed away nervously, two more appeared next to it. "_Keep your light burning strong_," the voice spurred her on. She took another nervous step back.

"What's going on?" She asked. "What are those things doing here? I can't fight them!" She took another step back, only to realize when her heel touched thin air that she had backed up against the edge of the platform. "No, no, no, what do I do?" she began to panic. "I have to fight them? But, I—" she remembered the voice's words.

"_You have gained the power to fight. There will be times you have to fight. Keep your light burning strong."_

"Yeah," she said. "I don't have a choice. I have to fight these things." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, gripping the sword with both hands. With a yell, she charged at the nearest Shadow, clumsily swinging her sword at it. She connected, but lost her balance and tumbled to the ground. She saw one of the creatures jumping up to swipe at her, so she rolled to avoid it. She got up, faced the Heartless that just attacked her, and stabbed with her sword, impaling it right in the center of its chest and making it dissipate into black smoke. The other two creatures melted back into the floor and disappeared. Ruby jumped up and down in victory.

"Aw, Yeah!" she yelled. "I'm awesome!"

"_Behind you_!" the voice yelled suddenly. Alarmed, she turned around and saw that the Heartless had merely gotten behind her, and were standing there menacingly. She immediately charged at one of them and swung with all her might, managing to kill it in a single blow. The final one, however, melted into the floor again, but this time, a pool of darkness began to spread from where it disappeared. Multiple pools then began to pop up all along the platform until Ruby felt herself get sucked into it. She struggled to try to pull herself out, but it was ultimately pointless, as her whole body was submerged by the blackness.

She continued writhing around, until she realized that the darkness had gone. She opened her eyes and saw that she was on yet another new stained-glass platform. This one was colored gray and depicted her Uncle Qrow, scythe in his hand. Ruby noticed that he had no other portraits surrounding him. It was just Uncle Qrow by himself. She slowly stood up and saw that in the center of the platform, a light shone on a lone, ornate door. She approached the door and pulled it open. A blinding light came from the other side of it, and she walked into it with apprehension.

* * *

She was not expecting the sight in front of her when she stepped through the door. Granted, she had no clue what to expect, but it certainly wasn't her front porch. Looking around, she saw her big sister, daddy, and uncle all standing around on her porch, seemingly doing absolutely nothing at all. They weren't even talking to each other, just staring off into space. It was a little unsettling for the young girl.

"_Hold on_," she heard the voice say. "_The door won't open just yet_."

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked. "What's going on? What's wrong with my family?"

"_First, tell me more about yourself_," the voice said, continuing to ignore her and greatly confusing her in the process.

"Will you listen to me?!" she yelled, but there was no response. "Whatever," she grumbled. She walked up to Yang, who had her back turned to her, and she grabbed her shoulder, turning the older girl around to face her. "Yang?" she asked hopefully.

"What are you so afraid of?" her sister asked. Ruby just furrowed her brow in frustration.

"What kind of a question is that?!" She screamed. "Please, Yang, talk to me," she pleaded. "You're really scaring me."

"What are you so afraid of?" Yang repeated. Ruby groaned in frustration.

"Ugh, fine." She put her hand to her chin to give the question some thought. "I guess I'm afraid of losing you and Daddy like I lost Mommy," she said finally.

"Losing people?" Yang asked. "Is that really so scary?"

"It's scary to me," Ruby said with a pout. Yang turned back around to look out into the woods and no matter how much Ruby prodded her, the blonde girl wouldn't say anything else. Giving up, she walked over to her Uncle Qrow, who was leaning up against the house with his arms crossed.

"What do you want outta life?" he asked her.

"Oh, that's easy!" she exclaimed. "I want to be a Huntress!"

"You want to be a Huntress, huh?" he asked, and then went back to staring off into space. Finally, she approached her daddy, who was sitting on the porch steps.

"What's most important to you?" the older blond man asked.

"My family," Ruby said without a second thought.

"Is family such a big deal?" her daddy asked. Ruby honestly felt hurt hearing her own father say that.

"_You're afraid of losing people_," and just like that, whatever emotions she had just been feeling turned to annoyance at the sound of that stupid voice. "_You want to be a Huntress. You love your family. Your journey begins at dawn. As long as the sun is shining, your journey should be a pleasant one_."

"That sounds nice," Ruby said.

"_The day you restore the light is both far off and very near_," the voice said cryptically. Ruby suddenly found herself engulfed by a bright light. When the light faded, she found herself on yet another stained-glass platform. This one was mainly colored white, and had four people depicted on it that she didn't know. One of them was a blond boy with a sad look in his blue eyes. The next picture was a girl with bright red hair and green eyes, a bright smile on her face. The next picture depicted a ginger girl with teal eyes, and if Ruby was being honest, she looked scared. Finally, there was a black-haired boy with a magenta streak in it to match his eyes. He had a warm smile on his face. Ruby had no idea why these people were on this platform. Every other platform at least had people on them that she knew. But she had no idea who these four kids were.

She walked to the center of the platform, waiting for the voice to say something, when a light shone down onto the center of the platform, leaving a bright spot on the glass. She stepped into it, and she saw a small circle of light travel along the floor until it left the platform. Then, to her astonishment, a pathway made of pure stained glass began to form, and continued up into the darkness. She walked towards it, trying to see where it might lead, but the end was too far away. She took a step onto the glass, then another, and then another, and noticed that the pieces of the pathway behind her were vanishing as she stepped off them.

"No going back," she said out loud. She kept walking warily, constantly reminding herself to not look down into the black abyss all around her. She finally reached the end, and lo and behold, it was another stained-glass platform with a picture on it. This one was colored blue and depicted Aqua, who was looking at her Wayfinder sadly. There were two other full body pictures on either side of her. One of them was a teenage boy with spiky blond hair, and the other was a young man with swept-back brown hair. Both of the boys had their eyes closed, which was a first for all of the people depicted on these platforms. She could see a column of light shining down on the center of this pillar, and she slowly walked toward it.

"_The closer you get to light_," the voice finally said, "_the greater your shadow becomes_." Ruby was now standing fully in the column of light, and looked around. She briefly noted that her shadow was so long that it extended all the way to the end of the platform. However, what surprised her was when her own shadow began to rise out of the floor, growing even larger and taking on a new shape. "_But don't be afraid_," the voice continued. "_And don't forget_." She could only back up in sheer terror at the sight of her shadow transforming. She turned around and tried to run, only to quickly come up against the other end of the platform, forcing her to stop. She turned around to face the creature, terrified at what it had turned into.

The giant figure in front of her was clearly a woman, with pure white skin and hair. Her eyes had black sclera and red irises, and she had black veins running all over her body. Completing the look was a long, pitch black gown. The demonic woman opened her mouth and roared, black ooze seeping out of her mouth and onto the stained-glass platform below her feet. With the edge of the platform right behind her, Ruby had nowhere to escape to as the darkness began to spread all over the platform and inch towards her.

"_But don't be afraid_," she could hear the voice say. Tendrils of darkness had completely covered up her legs at this point, and she was swinging the sword, desperately trying to cut them off, but to no avail. "_You hold the mightiest weapon of all_." She fell over, and tried to crawl away from the monster, only to watch as the darkness overtook her arms as well. "_So don't forget_…" The voice said as Ruby's vision was fully obscured by darkness.

"_You are the one who will bring back the light_."

Ruby finally let out a blood-curdling scream.

* * *

"AHHHHHH!" Ruby screamed, sitting upright in bed with a jolt, startling her sister awake in the process.

"Ruby?!" Her sister said, jumping out of bed to run to the younger girl's side. "What's wrong?! Why are you screaming?" She put her arm around Ruby's shoulder and started rocking her, trying to calm down the girl who was now crying from her terror. "Did you have a bad dream?"

"Uh-huh," Ruby nodded her head through her tears. Yang quickly pulled her into a tight hug, rubbing her back soothingly to calm her sister down.

"Shhhh, it's okay," Yang whispered to the sobbing girl. "It was just a dream. It can't hurt you." They sat there like that for several minutes, the blonde girl just letting her sister cry her fears into her chest. Eventually, Ruby's tears began to subside. "Are you okay?" she asked her sister softly.

"I think so," Ruby replied a little shakily.

"Are you okay to go back to bed, or do you need me to sleep with you tonight?"

"I think I'm fine."

"Okay," Yang said, releasing the hug. "But I'll be right across the room if you need anything."

"I'm fine," Ruby said with a hint of annoyance. "I know where you sleep."

"Alright then," Yang said. "I'm gonna go back to bed. I'll see you in the morning." She got up and began walking back towards her own bed. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Yang," Ruby said, lying back down and pulling the covers over herself. "Hey, Yang?"

"Yeah, Ruby?"

"I love you." She heard her sister chuckle a little bit.

"Love you too, sis."

Ruby lied there for a few minutes, thinking about the dream.

_Such a weird dream_, she thought. Then it dawned on her. _Didn't Aqua say something about weird dreams?_ She sat up again, closed her eyes, and held out her left hand in front of her. She imagined herself in front of a large bonfire, and in her mind, she reached out and grabbed the tendrils of flame and pulled. She opened her eyes.

An explosion of rose petals burst forth out of her palm. When the petals subsided, in her left hand…

Was her Keyblade.

**AN: Not gonna lie, I honestly wasn't expecting when I started writing this chapter that it would be told entirely from Ruby's perspective. I do like bouncing perspectives around but it felt more natural to just follow Ruby.**

**The reason I wrote this chapter was mainly because I realized that Ruby hadn't done her Dive to the Heart yet, and I feel like it's a great opportunity for some symbolism with who was appearing on her glass platforms, and the giant at the end, who I'm assuming you could guess the identity of. It also let me hint at Ruby's greater destiny. I also had her ditch the rod because I thought it would be kind of funny that she was so excited to learn magic, but since she's so young and has a limited vocabulary she ends up weakening her own magic power by accident just because she couldn't understand what the voice was telling her.**

**As always, thanks you guys so much for reading my story, and I'll see you all next chapter!**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Again!" Aqua yelled, and Ruby repeated the drills that she had just run, her distinct red-and-black Keyblade held in her left hand. She had been running drills to work on her sword form for the past two weeks. Aqua had to admit, Ruby's progress was absolutely astounding. She figured another month and Ruby would have her basic sword technique down and they could start sparring.

Aqua hadn't been surprised when Ruby told her that she had her dream literally that night when Aqua told her about it. When she asked what had happened, the girl told her all about the stained-glass platforms, the voice, and picking the sword. The poor girl had been devastated when she was informed that ditching the rod had actually weakened her magic ability, the very thing she was most excited to learn. What Aqua found interesting was what the voice in the dream had told the young girl.

_"You are the one who will bring back the light."_

Aqua had spent the last two weeks wracking her brain around what that could possibly mean. It had been so long that Aqua had long forgotten what happened during her own Awakening, but she assumed it had something to do with some role she was meant to play. All Keyblade wielders presumably went through something similar, and Aqua had the impression that it was meant to inform you of whatever your destiny was as a Keyblade Wielder. Regardless, Ruby's training took precedence over trying to solve this mystery, and she was progressing very nicely.

"Hey, Wonder Woman."

She was taken out of her musings by the arrival of Qrow. She had been seeing quite a lot of the older Huntsman since Ruby's training began, and she found him to be surprisingly good company. He was very interested in seeing where Ruby's training took her, and that led to the two of them talking fairly often. Plus, he had been helping her out with a certain problem of hers.

"Ruby, come here!" she called to the girl. "Take a break and say 'hi' to your uncle!"

"OK!" Ruby called back, dismissing her Keyblade. She ran towards the two adults and threw herself into a hug with Qrow. "Hi, Uncle Qrow!"

"Hey, kiddo," he said, returning his niece's hug. "So, how's the training going?"

"It's great!" Ruby said enthusiastically. "Aqua said I'm prog—pro—"

"Progressing," Aqua helped.

"Yeah, progressing fast!"

"Really?" Qrow asked, raising an eyebrow at the blue-haired woman.

"Yeah," Aqua said with a nod. "I'm really surprised. She has incredible talent as a warrior."

"She probably gets it from her mom," he said a little sadly. "Anyway, how have you been? Your Aura still giving you trouble?"

"Yeah," she said with a sigh of frustration.

It had been two weeks since she had asked Qrow to unlock her Aura for her, and it became immediately apparent that there was a problem. She had expected that unlocking her Aura would amplify the powers that the Keyblade had already granted her, but almost the opposite happened. As soon as her body was covered in that cool blue glow, her powers became unstable. Anytime that she tried to use her magic, something would interfere and stop her, and whenever she activated her Aura, it would deactivate as soon as she tried to use magic. She figured that it had something to do with the differences in the sources of where her powers came from. Her Keyblade abilities and magic came from her Heart, but her Aura came from her Soul. She found that she could still use each set of powers individually, but she couldn't use them both simultaneously. At least not yet. Sparring with Qrow had helped her learn how her Aura worked, as she exclusively used it when fighting him, and she felt like she was close to a breakthrough. But, until she figured out how to use both her Aura and her Keyblade abilities at the same time, her Semblance, and thus her full potential, was momentarily out of her grasp.

"I'm close," she said. "I just don't know what's blocking me. I can't even think about figuring out my Semblance until this problem is solved."

"Well, if it helps," he began, "Usually being in a stressful situation helps people figure these things out."

"Yeah, but I would rather not get myself in trouble just to figure out a new power," she said with a slight chuckle.

"It was just a thought," he said with a chuckle of his own. He finally broke the hug with Ruby. "If you need any help, just let me know."

"Thanks, Qrow."

"Anytime," he said. "So, where's Yang? She still asleep?"

"Yeah," Aqua said with a sigh. "It is impossible to get that girl out of bed."

"Trust me, I'm aware. I'm gonna go say hi to her, and whenever you're ready, we can get some sparring done." He gave a quick wave to her as he started heading towards the house.

"Thanks, I'll let you know," she said as he left. She turned to look at her student. "Alright, how about you run your exercises one more time and we'll call it a day?"

"Okay," she said, running back to the center of her yard and summoning her Keyblade in a flash of rose petals. She took her usual stance, placing both hands on the handle and holding the weapon in front of her. She began doing her drills again, which consisted of repetitive swinging movements in different directions while Aqua stayed back and watched. It continued like this for a few minutes when Aqua noticed movement out of the corner of her eye.

She looked at the source of the movement and saw a black bird flying straight towards her at incredibly fast speeds. She instinctively raised her arms to cover her face, but then the bird swerved around her and flew into the bushes behind her and into the woods. She turned around and looked at where the bird seemed to go.

_That was weird_, she thought. _What was up with that bird?_

She was about to turn back around, when she saw the bushes rustle again. Only, there was no way it was the bird. The creature that was causing it was clearly too big. Fearing the worst, she summoned her Keyblade and watched the tree line. A few tense seconds passed, when suddenly a black-haired woman in red wearing a white mask flew out of the woods towards her with a long red katana drawn.

Aqua raised her Keyblade just in time to block the swing of the unknown woman's sword, and ducked underneath a second swing. She brought her Keyblade up for a counterattack, only for her assailant to block it with her sword and knee her in the stomach. Aqua reeled back in pain, but was able to recover in time to block a two-handed overhead strike from the red-clad woman. Their faces grew close together as they struggled against each other for supremacy, and Aqua could see that the woman's eyes were a brilliant crimson underneath her mask.

"Aqua!" Ruby shouted from behind her, having noticed the fight between the two women.

"Ruby!" Aqua yelled back. "Get inside the house!" Aqua watched her assailant's eyes narrow in the direction of the young girl, and her own widened in surprise as the woman reared her head back. She realized too late that she forgot to put her Aura up, as the woman then bashed her mask into Aqua's face, causing blood to spurt out of her assuredly broken nose. She doubled forward in pain, and the woman rolled over her back and in a single, fluid motion, spun around and delivered a slash across Aqua's back, knocking the blue-haired woman onto her stomach. She cried out in pain, raising her Keyblade straight into the air in a panic.

"Heal!" she shouted, casting the potent Curaga spell. Instantly she could feel the wound in her back stitch itself closed and the bones in her face reset themselves. She quickly stood up and turned around towards the woman, only to realize with horror that she was sprinting straight after Ruby, who was running towards the house, screaming her head off for help. Aqua activated her Aura and sprinted after her. Suddenly, the woman's katana lit ablaze, and the woman quickly turned around and fired a wave of fire from her sword at the blue-haired woman. Aqua raised her Keyblade to block it, but the impact caused her to skid backwards a little bit, causing the woman to get even farther ahead of her. Aqua quickly recovered and ran after her again.

_Come on, come on_, she thought, commanding her body to move. _I have to make it!_ Unfortunately for her, the woman made a great leap forward, tackling the small girl to the ground before scooping her up under her left arm.

"Ruby!" Aqua called out in a panic. "Let her go!"

"Put me down!" Ruby yelled at her captor. At this moment, the front door to the house burst open, Qrow stepping out with his sword drawn, Taiyang following right behind him.

"What the hell is going on out—" the black-haired Huntsman started to ask, but stopped mid-sentence, his eyes widening when he saw Ruby being held by the masked woman.

"No way," Taiyang said in absolute shock. The woman turned to look at Aqua, who was still sprinting towards her.

"I'll be in touch," the woman said before slashing her sword at thin air in front of her, causing a red and black portal to appear. She stepped into it without another word, the captive Ruby screaming for help.

"RUBY!" Aqua screamed, but the portal closed just as she was about to jump through after them. She looked in shock at the air where the portal was, falling to her knees in failure. "No," she muttered quietly, simply staring at the spot Ruby disappeared from. Qrow and Taiyang were still trying to process what had just happened.

"Qrow?" Taiyang asked with uncertainty. "Was that—?"

"Yeah," Qrow answered. "But what the hell is she doing?"

* * *

Ruby was roughly tossed onto the floor of a small cage, letting out a small grunt of pain that was muffled by the strip of cloth over her mouth. As soon as that mean lady had stepped through the portal with her, she suddenly found herself in some kind of camp in the middle of the woods. Once they were through, the mean lady handed her off to some tough-looking people, who wasted no time restraining her. They had used rope to tie her hands behind her back, her ankles were tied together, rope had been wrapped around her torso, pinning her arms to her sides, and after she kept yelling at them to let her go, one of them tied a strip of cloth over her mouth, preventing her from talking. They then tossed her into a cage, which was where she now found herself. She looked up towards the door of the cage to see the mean lady close and lock it, with one of the tough people standing next to her. The woman took off her Grimm mask to reveal her red eyes, which were staring at Ruby in amusement.

"So, why do we need this girl?" The man next the lady asked her.

"We don't need her, we just need her power," the mean lady said. "Plus, she could help us get something even better."

"If you say so," the man said with uncertainty.

"You hear that, little Rose?" the mean lady said to Ruby, "You'll be staying with us for a little while." Ruby tried to yell at her, but her voice was muffled by the strip of cloth. She glared at the woman angrily before thrashing around, trying to escape the ropes currently binding her. "Don't bother," the lady said. "You can't escape, so you might as well just sit back and relax. We even gave you a cellmate so you don't get lonely." She nodded her head behind Ruby, causing the girl to turn to head in the direction indicated.

Behind her in the cage she saw another girl, probably a teenager if Ruby had to guess, who was tied up and gagged the same way that she was. The other girl had black hair and amber eyes, and was wearing a red dress. She was sitting up with her back against the wall of the cage, and looked at Ruby sadly before sending a fiery glare at the mean lady. Ruby sent her own glare at the woman, mumbling angrily into her gag.

"Now, you two have fun and get to know each other," the woman said with a smirk. "I have to make a call." She walked away, leaving the two girls alone in their cage.

* * *

Aqua paced anxiously around inside the Xiao Long/Rose household, unsure of what to do. Qrow was sitting at the kitchen table, flask in his hand, but Taiyang was sitting in his chair, with a look of absolute shock on his face. Aqua had looked at him a few times, and it was frankly making her feel even more anxious.

"What do we do?" Aqua asked Qrow.

"As much as I hate to say it," Qrow sighed, "I think we just have to wait for her to contact us. From what you said happened, it looked like she was after Ruby. If she was after you, she would have killed you. She told us she'd be in touch, so we just have to wait."

"You honestly expect me to just sit here and wait?" Aqua demanded. "She could be doing who-knows-what with Ruby and you want me to just _wait_?"

"Just trust me on this," he said pleadingly. "She'll call us, I just know it."

"And how do you know that?" She heard Taiyang mumble something in his chair. "And what's wrong with him?" she asked pointing to him. Qrow sighed deeply, clearly not wanting to answer that question. She glared at him, and his eyes widened a little bit in fear.

"He's in shock," he said. "Because we know the woman that took Ruby."

"You know her?" Aqua asked angrily. "And you didn't think it was important to tell me that?"

"Look, I'm sorry," he said, looking down at the floor in shame.

"Well, who is she? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't tell you because she's my sister." Aqua's angry expression was immediately replaced by one of confusion.

"…What?"

"That was my sister, Raven." Aqua couldn't wrap her head around this new fact. Qrow's sister was the one that kidnapped Ruby? Why? Wait a minute. Raven.

"Isn't Raven Yang's mother?"

"Yeah, she is."

"Does Yang know?"

"Of course not," he said, as if it was obvious.

"We have to tell her."

"No we don't. The less she knows about Raven the better."

"Yang still wants to find her. She told me herself. If she's this dangerous, she has to know," Aqua argued. "What happens if she keeps looking and gets hurt or worse by this woman?"

"Well what do you want me to tell her?!" Qrow yelled, standing up from his chair. "You honestly expect me to just walk up to my niece and tell her that her own mother kidnapped her little sister?! She'd be crushed!"

"Ruby was kidnapped?" a small voice said from behind Aqua. All of the adults in the room turned to the source of the voice in shock. Yang was standing in the doorway, her lilac eyes wide open. "And my mom did it?"

"Yang…" Qrow said sadly. Aqua sent him a glare. If he hadn't yelled, she wouldn't have overheard them.

"Uncle Qrow, what happened?" Yang asked.

"Uh…I, uh," Qrow stuttered.

"Uncle Qrow?" She asked again, tears starting to form in her eyes. Qrow couldn't respond. "Dad?" she turned to her father, desperate for answers about what happened to her baby sister. Her father finally snapped out of his stupor, stood up, and wrapped his oldest daughter in a tight hug.

"Your mom showed up while Aqua and Ruby were training," he explained. "She took Ruby."

"Why?" she asked. "Why would she do that?"

"I don't know, sweetie. But we're doing everything we can to bring her back."

"But you're all just standing here."

"We're waiting for contact," Qrow said. At that moment, his Scroll rang. "Speak of the she-devil." He pulled the device out of his pocket and unfolded it, the screen showing a woman with black hair and red eyes. "Raven."

"Qrow," she said simply.

"How'd you get this number?"

"I have nothing to say to you. Put your friend on."

"The hell you don't have anything to say to me!" he yelled. "That's my niece you took!"

"You are in no position to talk to me like that," she said with a smirk. "Now put her on."

"Fine," he relented, handing the Scroll over to Aqua. She took it, and took a look at the face of the woman on the other line. Now that she was without her mask, she could definitely see the resemblance to Yang. It just made her blood boil that Yang's own mother was the one responsible for this mess.

"Aqua Eraqus," the black-haired woman said. "A pleasure."

"How do you know my name?" Aqua demanded.

"I know a lot about you," the woman answered. Aqua's heart skipped a beat. What did she mean by that? Did she know that Aqua was from another world? "For example, I know about that fancy weapon of yours. I also know you've been training Summer's daughter to use it." Since she didn't mention other worlds, she either didn't know or chose not to mention it. Aqua couldn't relax just yet.

"How do you know that?"

"I have my ways."

"Well, what do you want? Why did you take Ruby?"

"What I want is to have a little chat with you. The girl is just to make sure you show up."

"Really?" Aqua asked incredulously. "All of this just to talk to me? Would calling not be good enough?"

"No," Raven said. "No it wouldn't have been. Now, I'm sure you're anxious to wrap this whole mess up, so I'll get straight to the point. I sent two of my men to the house to pick you up. You will go with them without a fuss, and you'll go alone. If you value the girl's safety, you'll make sure you aren't followed. That means you, little brother!" she said, addressing Qrow, who just snarled at the Scroll."

"Why are you doing this? Why do you need to talk to me?"

"All in good time. Well, do you understand my terms?" Aqua glared furiously at the red-eyed woman.

"I understand," she finally said.

"And you'll come quietly?" Another pause.

"I will."

"Good," Raven said. "I'll see you later." The screen went black as Raven ended the call.

"God damn her!" Qrow yelled, kicking the coffee table hard enough to break one of the legs.

"That was my mom?" Yang asked.

"Yeah, it was," her uncle answered.

"And she has my sister?" It seemed she still couldn't quite process what was going on. Aqua crouched down so she was eye-level with the blonde girl.

"Yes, but I promise I will bring her back," she said with a smile.

"Mom _promised_ she'd come home and make us cookies again," Yang said sadly before brushing past Aqua and running upstairs to her room.

* * *

Ruby was thrashing around wildly in her shared cage, trying as hard as she could to get out of the ropes binding her, to no avail. The black-haired girl sharing the cage with her hadn't done much besides sit against the wall of the cage and look at the floor sadly. Ruby wanted so desperately to talk to this girl, but with the cloths covering their mouths, any sounds they made were too muffled to be coherent. She stopped her struggling for a bit, and laid down on her side to catch her breath. She looked over at the other girl, who still wasn't doing much of anything. Ruby suddenly started rubbing her face on the floor of the cage, causing the other girl to look at her in confusion. After about a full minute, she finally managed to work her gag off, allowing it to fall loosely around her neck like a necklace.

"Ah, that's better!" she exclaimed, happy to finally be able to talk again. "That thing was so annoying."

"Mph," the other girl could only grunt into the cloth still covering her mouth.

"Oh, yeah," Ruby said, just realizing that her cellmate still couldn't speak. "Hold on." She inched her way towards the other girl, and when she finally got to her, she struggled to sit on her knees. Once she was satisfied with her balance, she leaned her face towards the other girl's cheek, and bit down on the cloth. Using her mouth, she was able to remove the other girl's gag far more easily than she removed her own. "There you go."

"Thanks," the other girl said a little apprehensively.

"I'm Ruby," the younger girl said. The other girl didn't answer right away, instead simply giving Ruby a weird look.

"Cinder," she eventually said.

"Nice to meet you." Cinder looked around at the cell and that the ropes still binding them.

"Yeah, I guess," she said.

"So, how long have you been here?" Ruby asked. The girl looked down sadly.

"A month," she said quietly. "At least I think it's been a month."

"And you've just been here this whole time?"

"Pretty much. Well, I've been in this cage this whole time, but being tied up is pretty new."

"Don't worry," Ruby said, a smile on her face. "We'll be saved soon." Cinder looked at the girl with pity.

"Ruby, no one's coming for us. You'd better just get comfortable."

"Nu-uh," Ruby pouted. "We're definitely getting saved. My Daddy, or Uncle Qrow, or Aqua will come to save us. Just wait."

"I won't hold my breath," Cinder said. "How are you so sure that there's someone coming, anyway?"

"Because they're heroes!" Ruby said happily. Cinder just frowned at the younger girl.

"There's no such thing as heroes," she said. "If there were, I would've been rescued by now. Don't get your hopes up. The faster you accept that you're never going home the easier it becomes." Ruby simply pouted and leaned her body against the wall next to Cinder.

"They'll come," she said. "You'll see."

* * *

"So who exactly are these 'men' she's sending here?" Aqua asked. "It sounds like she has people working for her. Who is she?" Qrow looked down at the floor.

"Those would be some of her tribesmen," he answered.

"What does that mean?"

"She's a bandit."

"What?"

"We were raised by the Branwen tribe. After we graduated from Beacon, we had initially decided to both become Hunters, but after Yang was born, she decided the tribe was more important and went back after our old man finally kicked the bucket. She's really gung-ho about this whole tribe-leader thing."

"So I'll be walking into a tribe full of murderers," Aqua sighed. "Wonderful."

"Just be careful," Taiyang said from his chair. "She was always the strongest person on our team."

"Hey!" Qrow said indignantly.

"Just face it Qrow. She was always more ruthless than you." Qrow grumbled in response. Aqua was going to say something about making jokes at a time like this, when they heard a knock on the front door.

"Well, they move fast," Qrow said. "I'll get it." He walked up to the front door and opened it, revealing two thuggish-looking men. They snarled as soon as they saw him. "Well hey there, boys."

"We have nothing to say to you, traitor," one of them spat.

"Oh fucking spare me," Qrow dismissed.

"Is the woman here?" The other bandit asked.

"The woman has a name," Aqua chimed in. "And yes, she's here." She took a step towards the door and internally recoiled when she saw the lecherous looks the bandits were sending her. She appreciated how angry it seemed to make Qrow, however.

"Well, honey," the first bandit said. "If you're ready, let's get going. Our boss is eager to meet you."

"I'll bet she is," Aqua said, walking towards them. "Let's just get this over with."

"Not so fast," the second bandit said, pulling out a coil of rope from his back pocket. "Gimme your wrists." If only looks could kill, his head would probably explode from the glare she was sending him. She got some small satisfaction from the hesitation her look caused in the man. "Hey, it's for our protection. The boss lady said you were tough, and we're not taking any chances." Aqua glared at the rope in the bandit's hand.

"Fine," she finally said, holding her wrists out in front of her. The bandit quickly tied them together, making sure to leave a long strand of rope in his hand to act as a leash. "Are we done yet?"

"Not quite," the first bandit said, pulling a long black cloth out his back pocket. "Just to make sure you don't know where to find us." He walked towards Aqua and moved to place the cloth over her eyes to blindfold her, when a voice interrupted him.

"Aqua!" Taiyang shouted. "Please bring my daughter back safe." Aqua smiled at him.

"I promise," she said. "She'll be back before you know it." Before anything else could be said, the world around her went dark as the blindfold was placed over her eyes. With a yank, the bandit pulled her by her bound wrists, forcing her to start walking.

_I'm coming Ruby_, Aqua thought. _Just hold on._

**AN: So this chapter is the first part of a single chapter that I decided to split in two parts to make it more manageable. **

**Most of you correctly guessed that the other girl that Raven was holding prisoner was in fact Cinder. I've got something I think is kind of interesting planned for her character in the long run, so stay tuned.**

**Still no reveal for Aqua's Semblance yet, but that will definitely come next chapter. Also, I hope I am able to get the point across of what I'm trying to do with Yang's character.**

**As always, thank you all for reading, and I'll see you next time.**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Okay, seriously, the more I look into the Age of Fairy Tales, the more confused I get. Like, how was Ven there? How long ago was it? Is reincarnation a thing in Kingdom Hearts? Ow, my brain.**

**In other news, I just saw the RWBY Volume 7 trailer last night, and I am pretty excited and honestly a little nervous. Here's hoping it doesn't take a nosedive like Volume 6 did. I'll also have to make sure I can get it to fit in with the story I have planned here. **

**Anyway, that's enough rambling. Let's get on with the chapter, which ended up being longer than I expected, hence why it took longer than I wanted it to.**

Chapter 6

"We're almost there, babe," one of the bandits leading Aqua said.

The blue-haired woman had never felt so humiliated in her life. She was currently blindfolded with her hands bound in front of her, being led by a leash attached to her wrists by two bandits who absolutely had unsavory thoughts about her. Under ordinary circumstances, she would just summon her Keyblade and fight them off, but she sadly had no choice but to put herself in this position. After all, these bandits' leader had kidnapped Ruby, and she had otherwise no idea where to find her. And even if she could find the camp herself, if she showed up without the two men sent to escort her, then who knows what these scoundrels might do to the poor girl. So it was with great frustration that Aqua had to swallow her humiliation and allow the bandits to drag her through the woods towards their camp.

She continued walking forward blindly until she suddenly felt herself collide with the back of one of the bandits.

"Hey!" she said. "Why did we stop?"

"Shh!" The bandit she walked into silenced her. "I think I heard something."

"What is it?" she heard the other one asked. "Is it Grimm?"

"I'm not sure." A few tense seconds passed before Aqua heard the distinct "shing" of swords being unsheathed.

"What is it?" she asked. "What's there?"

"Just zip it!" One of the bandits snapped at her. "We'll handle it."

"There it is!" the other bandit yelled. "What are those things?"

"I've never seen anything like them!"

"Just kill them!" A few seconds passed, as Aqua heard the sounds of what was clearly a fight, when the noises suddenly stopped. She contemplated reaching up for her blindfold to see what happened, when she was suddenly yanked forward by the leash attached to her wrists, causing her to fall to the ground. She heard the two bandits laugh, and she growled in frustration at them before she felt hands grab her waist and lift her up.

"Hey!" she yelled, wrestling free of the hands. "Hands off!"

"Sorry, sweetheart," one of the bandits said with more than a hint of condescension to his voice. "Just needed to get you back on your feet so we could keep moving, is all."

"Let's just get moving," Aqua said, glaring at where she was assuming the bandit was behind the blindfold. She was yanked by her wrists again, but this time she was able to stay on her feet.

"This way," one of the men said.

* * *

Aqua was led by her wrists for what felt like several more minutes before she was told by the bandits to stop walking.

"We're here," one of them said. "Come here. You don't need the blindfold anymore." Aqua stepped towards the voice, and she felt a pair of hands untie the cloth around her eyes. The blindfold was removed, and she was forced to squint as her eyes had to adjust to the light after being in darkness for so long. When her eyes finally got used to the light, she saw the bandits standing in front of her, looking right at her. No, wait. They weren't looking at her. They weren't meeting her eyes. Their eyes were focused a little more downward.

Oh, those creeps!

Aqua's face instantly flushed as soon as she realized where they were looking, and she turned away, holding her arms in front of her chest defensively. "Hey!" she yelled angrily. "What do you think you're looking at?!"

"Sorry about that, honey," one of them said, his tone of voice indicating that he was not at all sorry. "We just haven't seen a hot little thing like you in a long time. You can't blame us for getting an eyeful while we still can."

"Yes," she said, glaring at him. "Yes, I absolutely can blame you."

"Whatever," the other bandit said. "Come on, we've kept the boss lady waiting long enough." He gave her leash another tug, prompting her to start walking. She looked towards her destination and saw a large circle of tall wooden posts built as a makeshift wall. They were approaching an open gate, and Aqua could see several tents on the inside of the circle. Once they crossed the threshold, several bandits stopped what they were doing to watch the trio walk towards the center of camp. Instantly Aqua heard several of the men whistling at her and calling out to her lustfully.

_It's for Ruby_, she thought, trying to keep herself calm so she didn't put her student in danger. _It's for Ruby, it's for Ruby_.

"Enough!" a commanding voice called, causing the catcalling and whistling to cease. Aqua looked towards the source of the voice, and saw a familiar figure exiting a red tent that was much larger than the other ones around it. She recognized the black hair, the red eyes, and the long sword sheathed at her waist.

This was Raven Branwen. The woman that had abandoned Yang at birth, the woman that ran away from her duty as a mother to be with a bunch of thieves and murderers. And most importantly, she was the woman that stole Ruby right out from under Aqua. The blue-haired Keyblade Master sent the woman a glare so full of hatred that would normally only be reserved for Xehanort himself. Raven returned her glare with a smirk, which only served to anger Aqua even further.

"Aqua," Raven said. "It's so nice to finally meet you face-to-face."

"The feeling isn't mutual," Aqua said through gritted teeth.

"Oh, come now. Don't be like that. There's no reason why we can't be friends."

"There's plenty of reasons," Aqua snapped, losing her patience for the bandit woman's coy attitude. "Where's Ruby?"

"Right to the point, I see," Raven said with a sigh. "She's here, she's safe, so don't worry."

"What do you want from me?"

"I just want to talk," the bandit leader said, her face neutral.

"Really? That's it? You kidnapped a little girl and dragged me all the way out here just to talk?" Aqua asked incredulously.

"There are some things I'm trying to figure out."

"Like what?"

"Like where you got that interesting sword. It lets you do some pretty amazing things. It's clearly not your Semblance, since you didn't have your Aura unlocked that time in the woods." Aqua's eyes widened in shock.

"How did you know about that?"

"I was there."

"How? I didn't see you."

"I have my ways."

How was this possible? How could this woman have been there in the woods when Ruby first summoned her Keyblade? She had seen Aqua take the hit from that Grimm? Wait a minute.

"Yang was there, too." She vocalized her sudden realization, pointing her words at the runaway mother.

"What?" Raven asked, not quite in shock, but clearly not expecting to be questioned about her daughter.

"Your daughter. She was in the woods that day, too."

"What about her?"

The nerve of this woman. Aqua silently swore to herself that if she ever had kids, she would never leave their side. Better to smother your kids with too much love than abandon them, after all.

"If you saw that she was there, if you saw that she was in trouble, why didn't you help?"

"You and my brother had it covered."

"So? You couldn't even see your own daughter?"

"I don't see how that's any of your business," Raven said, frowning at the blue-haired woman. "Besides, I promised that I would only ever save her once. Thanks to you, I didn't have to use it up so early."

"And that makes it OK?!" Aqua yelled. How could this woman have such a callous disregard for the safety of her own daughter? Saving her once? There shouldn't be any caveats to helping your child! "She's your daughter!"

"You need to stop talking about things you don't understand, girl," Raven's frown deepened, almost turning into a snarl.

"Well, what about Taiyang?" Aqua asked. Raven's frown disappeared, and she just looked at the blue-haired woman in confusion. "Your husband? Aren't you supposed to love him?" Much to Aqua's surprise, Raven's only response was to burst out laughing. "What's so funny?"

"Sorry," Raven said, wiping a tear out of her eye as she finally stopped laughing. "You honestly think I care at all about that weakling?" Aqua could only look at the bandit with confusion.

"I don't understand," she finally said.

"Let me explain something to you," Raven said, crossing her arms. "I never loved Tai." Aqua's eyes widened. "He was just entertainment. He's far too weak-willed for anything permanent between us. No, we dated a few times, we slept together a few times, but I was planning from the beginning on returning to the tribe after graduation. But thanks to that moron, my return had to be delayed."

"Delayed?"

"That idiot forgot to put a condom on a few nights before we graduated," she said bluntly, and Aqua felt her face turn red at the details that she absolutely did not need to know. "Next thing I knew, I was pregnant, and I had to wait almost a year to take my rightful place in the tribe. And as soon as I left, he turned to Summer, and now that she's gone, he spends his days at the bottom of a bottle. I had him pegged as weak the minute I met him. I would've taken Yang with me, but I couldn't risk her inheriting his weakness."

"What is wrong with you?" Aqua asked in disgust. This woman just kept sinking deeper and deeper.

"It's the philosophy of the tribe. 'The strong survive, the weak die'. I'm not surprised Qrow never told you about it. He'd rather keep following Ozpin on his fool's errand than have anything to do with his family." That last part thoroughly confused Aqua.

"What does Ozpin have to do with anything?"

"Nevermind," Raven said with a shake of her head. "This wasn't why I wanted to talk to you."

"Fine," Aqua sighed. "What do I have to do to leave here safely with Ruby?" Raven had a look of genuine confusion at her words.

"I think there was a misunderstanding somewhere."

"What kind of misunderstanding?"

"The girl won't be leaving." Aqua's mind completely shut down at this. "She'll be staying here with us. The only thing I need to find out is if you'll be joining her, or if I'll be sending you back to my brother in pieces."

"Wha—" Aqua couldn't find the words. This woman had no intention of letting Ruby go? Then why go to all this trouble? Why even give Aqua the option of showing up? She had to know Aqua wouldn't stand for this. These were all questions floating around in Aqua's head, but she was too shocked to verbalize them.

"Let me put it to you another way since you seem to be having trouble understanding," Raven said, her smile returning. "Ruby Rose will be staying here to become a part of our tribe. You can either join the tribe, too, or I kill you where you stand." Aqua was finally able to regain your composure.

"Why do you want us?" She asked, glaring at the woman yet again.

"Isn't it obvious? I've seen the things those weapons of yours are capable of. I would be a fool to not want it for myself. The girl is still young, so she can be molded into one of us. I'm only going to give you this one chance, but I really only need the girl. You'd just be helpful in teaching her how to use it, and showing me how to get my own." Aqua scoffed at that last statement, causing Raven to lift an eyebrow in her direction.

"Don't kid yourself," Aqua said. "A murderer like you will _never_ be worthy of wielding a Keyblade." Raven chuckled a little bit.

"Whether I'm 'worthy' or not doesn't really matter to me. All I care about is getting that power in my tribe. So, I'm going to give you your two options again. Either you can stay alive by joining your student in my tribe, or you die. So, which will it be?"

"I pick a third option," Aqua said, causing Raven to scowl at her.

"What third option?"

"I take you down and leave here with Ruby. There's no way in Hell I'm leaving her here with you." She honestly surprised herself with her language. She had never been one to swear, but this woman had just pissed her off that much. "I've made a lot of mistakes in my life, and they've caused me to lose everyone I've ever cared about. Training Ruby is my chance to finally do something right, and I will not let you take it from me."

"Is that your answer?" Raven asked, her right hand starting to move towards her sword. Aqua's only response was to summon her Keyblade, her bound wrists forcing her to grip it with both hands. "Fine, then." She gestured to the men surrounding Aqua. "Boys, kill her."

Aqua quickly spun around, using her Keyblade to block a sword slash from a bandit that charged her from behind. It just so happened that the first man to attack her had been the one that had dragged her by the wrists. She was going to enjoy this. He pressed his blade up against hers, and leaned his face close to hers, grinning madly.

"Don't worry, babe," he sneered, "I promise this won't hurt."

"I don't," she responded, causing the bandit to furrow his brow in confusion. She abruptly lowered her Keyblade. The bandit stumbled forward without the other weapon pressed up against his, and before he had a chance to recover, she hit him straight in the chin, knocking him onto the ground. She could see that he wasn't unconscious, as his Aura had absorbed some of the impact, but he was clearly still disoriented. Before she could follow up, however, she saw another bandit charge at her, and it happened to be the other man that escorted her to the camp. He swung his sword to her left, and she used her Keyblade to deflect it. She saw him prepare for an overhead swing, so she did something nobody expected.

She dismissed her Keyblade.

The bandit brought his sword down, and Aqua stepped back slightly, holding her bound wrists out in front of her. The sword passed right through the ropes, freeing her hands. She re-summoned her Keyblade, and coated it in flames. She dashed towards the bandit, spinning her Keyblade in front of her, hitting the bandit multiple times and burning right through his Aura, knocking him to the ground. She noticed that the first bandit was getting back up, so she coated her Keyblade in ice and threw it at him, freezing him solid. She shot herself towards him, and bashed her Keyblade against his chest, shattering the ice and his Aura at the same time. Looking around, she saw that all of the bandits had surrounded her, and several of them were pointing guns at her. She focused her attention all around her, making sure to "lock on" to as many of the bandits' heads as possible, while also making sure to aim at Raven multiple times. She surrounded herself in light, and began spinning in place, shooting small bolts of light from the tips of her Keyblade almost constantly. She spun several times, before finally releasing multiple bolts at once in a large explosion. When the dust cleared, half the bandits were lying on the ground unconscious. Raven, unfortunately, was holding her sword and had used it to deflect the bolts of light fired at her.

"How the hell did she do that?" One of the bandits asked.

"She punched right through their Auras," another said.

"You'll pay for that!" A third one shouted.

"Everybody stay back!" Raven shouted, stepping forward. "She's mine."

Aqua turned to face her, activating her Aura, covering her body in a cool blue glow. She learned from last time. That sword of Raven's was deadly. She couldn't afford to take a hit from her unprotected, even if it meant sacrificing her magic. She took her usual stance, back straight, Keyblade held at her side, feet together, and left hand slightly outstretched. She stared Raven down for a few tense seconds, and then the bandit leader charged at her.

* * *

"What's all that noise?" Cinder asked. Up until a few minutes ago, the cage that Ruby was sharing with the older girl had been surrounded by bandits, but they suddenly cleared out a few minutes ago. Then the girls heard shouts and loud noises that seemed to come from the center of the camp.

"Sounds like a fight," Ruby replied. "Oh! I bet that's someone who came to save us!"

"I doubt it," Cinder said sadly. "A couple of them probably got drunk and started fighting." Ruby pouted at the black-haired girl. "Ruby, the sooner you accept that we aren't being saved the better."

"Nope," Ruby said. "I'm not giving up!" She gave her ropes another tug, but they wouldn't budge. She couldn't reach the knot for the rope tying her wrists together. She'd need help.

Oh, wait. There was somebody else in the cage with her.

She rolled over onto her side and inched towards Cinder.

"What are you doing?" the older girl asked.

"Can you untie my hands?"

"Why?"

"I got an idea."

"What are you going to do about the cage being locked?"

"I got this. But I need to be free. Come on, I'll unite you when you're done." Cinder thought about it for a minute.

"Fine," she finally said, rolling over onto her own side and inching towards Ruby's back. Once she was close enough to feel the rope binding Ruby's wrists, she started feeling around for the knot. "Found it," she said.

* * *

"Is that the best you can do?" Raven asked tauntingly, looking down at Aqua on the ground. "I have to say, I'm not impressed." Aqua sent a glare up at the black-haired woman. She got up and charged at her, but it was nowhere as fast as it would be if she could use her Keyblade abilities. She swung her weapon at Raven, but the bandit leader easily deflected it. Aqua had raised her Aura in order to avoid being seriously injured if Raven managed to get inside her guard and land a hit, but at the cost of her magic and Keyblade abilities. While she had protection from her attacks, she was forced to rely on purely her swordsmanship, which she found out was lacking compared to the bandit leader's.

Aqua swung her Keyblade again, but Raven raised up her sword to block it. She grinned at the blue-haired woman, and kicked her in the stomach, dropping her guard before slashing her across the chest, her blue Aura rising up to protect her.

Oh, yeah. Raven fought dirty, too.

Aqua raised her Keyblade to block a swipe from Raven, but the force of the impact sent her sliding backwards.

"Come on," Raven taunted. "Aren't you going to use any of your magic?" Aqua glared at the bandit again.

_She wants to see magic?_ Aqua thought. _Fine, then_. She dropped her Aura and raised her Keyblade high into the air.

"Thundaga!"

A ring of lighting surrounded her, convening on her Keyblade. It traveled up the weapon before flying straight up out of the tip. Raven's shot open and she looked up, right as a giant bolt of lightning shot straight down on her head. Dust was kicked up from the impact, obscuring Raven from view. Aqua lowered her Keyblade, looking at the spot where Raven was standing in resignation, when she suddenly saw a stream of ice flow along the ground, and before she had a chance to react, the ice flow hit her in the legs, freezing her feet to the ground. She looked up at the dust cloud, and her eyes widened as Raven emerged, completely unscathed, but her sword's blade was white instead of the usual red. She looked at the Keyblade Master and smirked.

_How did she do that?_ Aqua thought. _How did she walk away from a Thundaga?_

"OK," Raven said. "My turn." She sheathed her sword, and Aqua saw a mechanism spinning, until it stopped on the color red. The bandit leader unsheathed her sword, the original red blade returning. Suddenly, the blade coated itself in flames, and Raven swung it, sending a blast of fire straight at Aqua. In a panic, Aqua raised her Aura again and braced for impact, her frozen feet leaving her unable to dodge.

The fire blast knocked her into the air, the ice around her feet shattering. She fell to the ground, losing her grip on her Keyblade and causing it to disappear. She landed hard, her Aura flickering.

"I see," Raven said, walking towards her. "You can't use your magic and your Aura at the same time." Aqua struggled to get up, her Aura just barely holding out. "Well, that works out great for me." She held her sword with both hands, and got into a ready stance. "I'll finish this quick. Don't worry. The girl will grow up strong with us." She raised her sword and charged at the blue-haired Keyblade Master.

_No,_ Aqua thought. _No, I can't let it end like this. Ruby needs me. I can't let it end!_

"No!" she yelled. And then there was a flash of light.

* * *

"I think I… Got it!" Cinder exclaimed, finally untying the ropes binding Ruby's wrists. The younger girl used her arms to lift the rope around her torso over her head, and then got to work on untying her ankles.

"Thanks," she said to the older girl once her ankles were free. "Your turn." She walked over to Cinder, who was still lying sideways on the ground, and tugged at the knot binding her wrists. After about a minute, she had the older girl completely free.

"Well, now what?" Cinder asked. "The cage door is still locked."

"I got this," Ruby replied, summoning her Keyblade to her left hand.

"What is that?" Cinder asked, raising an eyebrow at the weapon.

"It's a Keyblade."

"A Keyblade?"

"Yeah. 'Key' is in the name, so I figured it can unlock things."

"You figure?" Cinder asked, clearly skeptical.

"It'll work!" she insisted. "…I think." Cinder raised her eyebrows at the younger girl again. "Shut up. Just watch." She pointed her Keyblade at the door, waiting patiently for something to happen.

_Come on_, she thought. _Stupid Keyblade. Just unlock the door_.

"Nothing's happening," Cinder said.

"Hold on, let me focus." She waited a few more moments and was about to give up, when a ray of light suddenly shot out of the Keyblade and towards the cage door lock. "Yes!" she cheered, hugging her Keyblade to her chest affectionately. "I knew you wouldn't let me down, Keyblade!"

"No way," Cinder said in disbelief. She walked towards the cage door and pushed it. To her surprise, it swung right open.

"Come on!" Ruby said, walking out of the cage. "Let's get out of here." They took a few steps out of the cage when they heard a gruff voice address them.

"Hey! How'd you get out?" The girls turned around and saw a bandit standing a few feet away from him, drawing a knife. "Get back in that cage before I hurt you."

"No!" Ruby yelled, raising her Keyblade.

"Ruby, what are you doing?" Cinder asked, growing afraid. "We can't fight him!"

"'There will be times you have to fight'," Ruby recited from her dream. "'Keep your light burning strong'."

"What?" Cinder asked, eyes widening a little bit.

"We aren't going back in that cage. I'm gonna fight!" Cinder could only stare at the girl, her mouth agape.

"Fine, if that's how it's gonna be!" The bandit yelled before charging at her. Ruby held her Keyblade in front of her in both hands, bracing herself for the bandit's attack.

Before the bandit could reach her though, he was suddenly slashed across the chest by a very familiar sword. She followed the shaft of the sword to the hand holding it, and from there, its wielder, and she saw the red cape and grey shirt. He straightened up and turned around to face Ruby, allowing her to confirm that the man was in fact, her uncle. She immediately dismissed her Keyblade and tackled him.

"Uncle Qrow!" She yelled into his chest. "You came!"

"Ruby!" he said, eagerly returning the hug. "Are you OK? Did they hurt you?"

"I'm fine," she said, releasing the hug and looking back at Cinder, who was looking at the man in surprise. "See? I told you someone would come to save us!" Qrow was clearly surprised to see another girl that obviously wasn't a bandit in the camp.

"Who's this?" Qrow asked.

"This is my new friend Cinder," Ruby said, gesturing to the older girl.

"Cinder?" He asked, looking at her.

"Y-Yes, sir," she answered, blushing a little bit. "Cinder Fall."

"How long have they been holding you, Cinder?"

"A month." Qrow frowned at her answer.

"Looks like my sister has even more to answer for than I thought."

"U-um," Cinder stuttered nervously, "Sir?"

"Listen, kid," he said with a smirk, "None of this 'sir' stuff. I'm not that old. The name's Qrow."

"Um, OK, Qrow. A-Are you a Huntsman?"

"Yeah, I am." Cinder's face visibly lit up at that.

"That's so cool," she said in awe. Qrow couldn't help but chuckle at the admiration.

"Alright, come on, you two. I have to let Aqua know you're OK, and back her up if I have to."

"Aqua's here, too?!" Ruby asked excitedly.

"Yup," Qrow answered, "She's fighting my sister right now. Let's go."

* * *

"What the hell?" Raven asked, her sword pressed up against something, preventing her from following through on her attack. Aqua could only stare at the obstruction in shock. It was a crystalline object that had taken a shape that was familiar to the blue-haired Keyblade Master. It took the form of a tall anthropomorphic dog with long ears wearing armor and holding a small buckler shield, which it pushed up against Raven's sword. "What is this thing?"

"Goofy?" Aqua asked, disbelieving what she was seeing. How could her friend be here? And why did he look like that? The crystalline figure in front of her said nothing, and pushed Raven back off its shield. The bandit jumped backwards, putting distance between herself and Aqua.

"What is that?" Raven asked again. "Is that your Semblance?"

_My Semblance?_ Aqua thought. _Is this finally my Semblance?_

"Well, you're just full of surprises, aren't you?" Raven scowled. "Who would've thought your Semblance would allow you to summon? I thought only the Schnees could do that." Aqua continued to stare at the summoned construct, when she finally allowed herself to smile.

"Good to see you, Goofy," she said to the construct, standing up and summoning her Keyblade. _Something feels different_, she thought. _I wonder if…_ She raised her Keyblade high into the sky. "Heal!" she shouted, and she was surrounded by a green light, relieving her of her fatigue. She saw Raven's eyes widen.

"I thought you couldn't use magic when your Aura was up," she said in surprise.

"I guess I should thank you," Aqua said. "Qrow told me that people sometimes discover their Semblance when they're in distress. And you did just that. It's thanks to you that I finally got my full power."

"This doesn't change anything," Raven sneered. "You still can't win."

"We'll see," Aqua said, finally able to smirk at the bandit leader, which just seemed to make her even angrier. _Yeah_, Aqua thought. _How does it feel?_ "Let's go, Goofy!" She yelled, and the copy of Goofy lifted his left leg and threw his shield underneath it at the bandit.

She blocked it with her sword, but to her surprise, instead of bouncing off it, it curved around her sword and hit her straight in the face, causing her Aura to flash a dull gray. As if that wasn't enough, it still didn't fall as it was supposed to, and simply hit her in the face again. Aqua took the opportunity to charge at the bandit leader while she was preoccupied with being brained by a seemingly sentient thrown shield. Raven finally was able to compose herself, slashing at the shield with her sword. The blade of her katana lit ablaze again, and she fired off a stream of fire at the Goofy construct, shattering him instantly. Aqua jumped high in the air, bringing her Keyblade down on the bandit woman. The woman brought her sword up to intercept her, and then Aqua did the unexplainable.

She launched herself back up into the air without touching the ground.

Aqua's sudden elevation caused Raven to miss her attack, and her shock caused her to be unable to react to the blue-haired woman throwing her Keyblade straight down at her. It struck Raven in the chest, and Aqua quickly re-summoned it and propelled herself downwards, striking Raven again, causing her Aura to flare up again. Before the bandit could recover, she delivered several more blows, knocking Raven back. With some distance put between the two of them, Aqua decided to try reaching out with her Semblance again. She was surrounded by a bright light, a blue glyph appearing on the ground underneath her.

"Donald!" She shouted, and another crystalline anthropomorphic animal appeared in front of her, this time a small duck in wizard robes and a hat holding a small staff in its hand. It immediately launched a large fireball at Raven, but the bandit slashed her sword and diffused it. Aqua charged at her again while the Donald construct launched a blast of ice. However, Raven was ready for the combined onslaught this time. She fired another fire blast from her sword to dispel the ice, and blocked Aqua's attack. Instead of trying to counter, she jumped over Aqua and attacked the Donald construct directly, shattering him. Aqua called her Semblance again, causing the blue glyph to appear on the ground again. But the name she called stunned Raven.

"Qrow!" Aqua yelled, and a crystalline copy of the drunk Huntsman himself appeared and instantly charging at the bandit. Raven's face instantly contorted into a look of pure hatred. She blocked the attack from the Qrow construct, and then a sudden blast of fire launched out from her sword, shattering the copy of her brother.

"ENOUGH!" She roared, glaring at Aqua. "This has gone on long enough. I'm going to put you in the ground!" Aqua looked her right in the eyes, and she could swear they had started to glow. Before she could confirm it, however, a gunshot suddenly rang out, and a bullet impacted Raven in the head, bouncing off her Aura. Both women turned to look at where the shot came from, and were surprised to see Qrow, with his sword folded down to expose a gun barrel, which was pointed right at Raven. To Aqua's delight, next to him was Ruby and a girl she didn't recognize.

"Ruby!" She called happily, and the little girl gave her a cheery wave in greeting.

"Well, hello little brother," Raven said, her signature smugness returning.

"Shut up," Qrow snapped. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I'm making sure power gets used the way it's supposed to be."

"What the hell does that mean?" He demanded.

"I mean this power would be put to actual use with us instead of being wasted with Ozpin."

"Why do you keep bringing up Ozpin?" Aqua asked.

"She's not working with Oz," Qrow said. "He talked to her, yeah, but she said no."

"Really?" Raven asked, genuinely surprised.

"Yes," Aqua said. "I told him I couldn't get involved in whatever it was he was trying to recruit me into."

"Interesting," Raven mused. "But I still can't let you leave here. I'll be taking that girl back."

"You'll do no such thing!" Aqua yelled.

"Raven," Qrow said, his voice almost sounding pleading. "Just let it go. I really don't want to have to put you down."

"I've still got a few tricks up my sleeve," Raven said with the utmost confidence in herself, holding her sword in a ready position again.

Suddenly, a jagged sword fell from above them and embedded itself in the ground. Raven was suddenly surrounded by small purple flames that began to circle her. She looked at the flames in confusion, as they spun around her faster and faster, before closing in on her, blasting her backwards.

"What the hell?!" Qrow exclaimed. The flames reappeared next to the sword, coming back together and forming a new figure. It was a muscular, pitch-black body. It's body looked very human, but with two long claws for feet. On it's head were glowing yellow eyes, pointed ears, and two long purple antennae that formed a heart shape between them. It had vaguely demonic-shaped wings on its back and more angelic wings on it arms. It had a long tail with a circular blade on the end of it. What instantly drew the eye was the large heart-shaped hole in the middle if its chest. It grabbed the sword and yanked it out of the ground, and with a flap of its wings, floated above the ground.

"What the hell is that thing?!" Qrow asked again, clearly alarmed at the sight of the monster in front of him.

"It's a Heartless!" Aqua exclaimed, getting her Keyblade back into position. Almost as if on cue, several Shadows appeared around the new sword-wielding Heartless.

"Great," Qrow sighed. "Just our damn luck."

"Qrow," Aqua called. "You take care of the girls. Make sure nothing gets near them."

"Well, obviously," Qrow said. "What are you gonna do? I get fighting the small fry yourself, but what about the big guy? Can you take him alone?" She turned around and smiled at him.

"I won't be alone," she said, before calling upon her blue glyph again. "Mickey!" She shouted, and a crystalline figure was called forth again. It was short, with absurdly large mouse ears, and was carrying its own Keyblade. She set her summon on the Shadow Heartless while she crossed her arms in front of her. She began a glow brightly, energy swirling around her. She concentrated, activating a Style Change. The energy surrounding her suddenly exploded, leaving her body glowing with a pale blue. She heard the three people behind her gasp, as her Keyblade was now floating in front of her hand instead of being grasped by it. She charged at the Heartless, which swung its sword at her. She jumped to the side, and moved her arm upwards, sending her Keyblade spinning at the monster vertically. It struck home, and she spun her body sideways, her Keyblade circling her before launching itself back at the Heartless. Finally, she pointed her Keyblade at the monster, and a blast of energy exploded out, straight at the enemy. The Heartless flew backwards a few feet, before recovering and sticking its sword in the ground like before. It turned into several small flames again, surrounding Aqua. She looked around at the flames as they quickly encircled her, and just as they were about to meet, she made a mighty leap, landing right next to embedded sword. The Heartless reformed next to its weapon and reached for it, but Aqua knocked it away before grabbing the Heartless's own weapon in her left hand. She charged after the Heartless, throwing her Keyblade at it, before finally running up and stabbing it in the chest with its own weapon, disappearing in a puff of black smoke. Looking around, she saw that there were still some Shadows that her Mickey summon had yet to destroy. She started to spin in place, looking very much like a figure skater, as energy began to swirl around her, drawing in the Heartless around her. She gradually began to speed up her spinning, raising one leg straight up behind her until it was practically touching her raised hands. Finally, all the energy that had been swirling around her exploded outwards, killing all of the Heartless and making her lose her glow. She stood firm, panting heavily, before looking around the camp. All of the bandits were gone.

"Where'd they go?" She asked Qrow, who inexplicably had a slight blush on his face.

"Huh?" he asked dumbly.

"The bandits," she clarified.

"Oh, uh, I think Raven opened a portal and left. Aqua, what you just did…"

"Yes?" She asked after he trailed off.

"That was incredible," he said, making her blush at the praise.

"It was true what you said," she told him. "Stress really helped me unlock my Semblance." Suddenly, she was practically knocked over by a familiar red-clad little girl, who gave her one of her patented tackle-hugs.

"Aqua!" She yelled, tightening her grip on the woman.

"Ruby!" She returned the hug in earnest. "I'm so glad you're OK!" The girl looked up at her face.

"That was so cool!" The little girl said, her eyes full of awe for her teacher.

"Yeah, it was pretty cool," Aqua said a little sheepishly. She finally looked to the mysterious girl next to Qrow. She separated from Ruby and walked over to the unknown girl. The girl was looking at her in even more admiration than even Ruby was, if that was possible. "What's your name?" she asked the girl.

"Cinder Fall," the girl answered, still looking at Aqua as if she was the greatest human being on the planet.

"That's a very pretty name," she said with a smile. The girl absolutely beamed at the compliment.

"You're so strong," the girl said, the admiration clear in her voice.

"I guess I am."

"Can I be strong like you?"

"I'm sure you can," she said. She sent a questioning look to Qrow, wanting to know who this girl was.

"She said the tribe had her here for a month," Qrow said somberly. Aqua's eyes widened, and she instantly pulled Cinder into a hug, taking the girl by surprise.

"I'm so sorry," Aqua practically whispered. "How did you end up here?"

"The Grimm attacked my village," the girl said sadly. "I got separated from my family, and then those bandits picked me up. I thought I'd never be saved." Aqua could see that tears were starting to form in the girl's eyes, causing Aqua to tighten the hug.

"We'll get you back to your family," Aqua said. "I promise you." She continued to hug the girl, letting her get all her tears out of her system. To her surprise, Ruby appeared behind the girl and wrapped her arms around her waist, hugging her from behind. Aqua looked at her student in approval, Ruby smiling back at her. After a few minutes, Cinder finally stopped crying, allowing Aqua and Ruby to let go of her, the older girl looking at them gratefully.

"Alright," Qrow said. "Let's get home. I'm sure Tai and Yang are worried sick."

"Yeah," Aqua nodded. "Let's go."

**AN: Well, there you have it. Aqua has finally activated her Semblance. The vast majority of people who commented on what it could be suggested a summoning, so here it is.**

**Aqua's Semblance is called Wayfinder, and it allows her to summon a crystalline copy of anybody she considers a friend, as long as the person is still alive and their heart is intact. The copies have the same abilities as the person they are based off of, but they are destroyed very easily. So, in addition to getting her Semblance, she can now use her magic and Keyblade abilities at the same time that she's using her Aura. Honestly, the main reason that I gave her that problem in the first place was just to make it believable that Raven would give her such a difficult time. I have a feeling that Aqua would mop the floor with Raven if she had all of her abilities from the start, at least until Raven used her Maiden Powers, which she's trying to keep under wraps.**

**We also had a fight with an Invisible. I knew from the start going into this chapter that this was the Heartless that I wanted to interrupt Aqua's fight with Raven, because it just looks so damn cool. Plus it would come as a shock to Qrow and Ruby, who had never seen one that intimidating before.**

**And we got a little more time with Cinder, who clearly has an admiration for everyone's favorite Keyblade Master. Time will tell where this goes. I mean, I know where it's going, but you don't.**

**Anyway, thank you all for reading, and I'll see you next chapter.**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The quartet of Aqua, Qrow, Ruby, and Cinder were quickly approaching the sanctuary that was the Xiao Long/Rose household when the front door suddenly flew open. Aqua and Qrow instantly tensed, not quite sure what to expect. The two of them relaxed, though, when they noticed the small yellow blur sprint out of the open door. The blonde girl tackled Ruby in a hug so hard that the red girl for once was the one that fell over.

"RUBY!" Yang yelled, tears of joy streaming down her face, snuggling her sister.

"Yaaaaang," Ruby whined. "You're embarrassing me."

"Too bad!" Yang said. "You worried us, so you get embarrassed by my love!"

"Um?" Cinder asked, looking at the sisters in confusion. Aqua and Qrow couldn't help but laugh at the adorable scene.

"That's Ruby's sister, Yang," Aqua explained between giggles.

"That's her sister?" Cinder asked.

"Yup," Qrow said. "I know, they don't look alike. Trust me, they get that a lot."

"Yeah," the black-haired girl said.

"Yang, let go!" Ruby yelled, now full on struggling to get out of her sister's vice-like grip.

"Never!" The older sister declared, causing the two adults to laugh again, this time with Cinder finally joining in. The group heard loud footsteps approaching and looked to see Taiyang running towards the girls, scooping them both up into a huge hug and lifting them up, tears streaming down his face.

"Ruby!" he cried. "I'm so happy you're safe!"

"Daddy!" Ruby yelled excitedly. Aqua, Qrow, and Cinder could only smile at the incredibly heartwarming scene. Taiyang looked up at the two adults, the tears still running down his face.

"Thank you," he said. "Thank you both so much."

"You don't have to thank me," Aqua said.

"What did I tell you about letting us thank you, Wonder Woman?" Qrow asked.

"He really doesn't have to this time, though," she said with a pout. "What else was I going to do? Just leave her there? Of course not." Qrow simply smiled at her, causing her to blush a little bit. "A-Anyway," Aqua said, desperate to change the subject, "We brought someone else with us." Taiyang raised an eyebrow when she said this, before noticing the black-haired girl standing next to Aqua.

"Who's that?" Yang asked, still in her father's embrace.

"I'm—" Cinder tried to say.

"That's Cindy!" Ruby said excitedly. "She's my new friend!"

"Cindy?" Taiyang asked.

"It's Cinder, actually," the black-haired said in irritation. "Cinder Fall."

"Well, nice to meet ya, Cindy!" Yang said, causing the older girl to glare at her. "I'm Yang, Ruby's big sister!"

"Where did she come from?" Taiyang asked, and from the sound of his voice, he was clearly dreading the answer.

"She was at Raven's camp," Aqua said sadly. Taiyang looked at the girl in sympathy.

"She had her captive for a month," Qrow said.

"My mom had her?" Yang asked. Cinder's eyes shot wide open, glaring right at Yang.

"She was your _mother_?" She asked angrily. "The woman that kept me in a cage for a month was your mother?" She then looked at Taiyang. "You're her family?!"

"No," Qrow said. "We're not her family. Not anymore. She lost the right to call herself family after what she pulled today." Cinder didn't seem to relax after hearing those words. Taiyang finally put his daughters down and approached the older girl, reaching his hand towards her. She flinched, as if she expected to be hit, which instantly worried Aqua, but Taiyang placed a supporting hand on her shoulder.

"I'm so sorry you had to go through that," he said to her. "Raven has always been really complicated. We actually haven't seen her in seven years. So imagine our surprise when she shows up like this." He chuckled at that last part, but there was no humor in it. "She left right after Yang was born, but I don't think any of us were willing to believe that she had really fallen that far." He looked down at the ground sadly.

"But how can Ruby and Yang be sisters then?" Cinder asked. "Raven left after Yang was born."

"They have different mothers," Qrow said. "Ruby's mom was named Summer." Aqua noticed the way Yang visibly tensed after Qrow said that. She walked up to the blonde girl and placed a hand on her shoulder. She noticed that she was trembling. Evidently, talking about her missing mother was having an effect on her.

"Are you OK?" she asked.

"I'm fine," she replied unconvincingly. Aqua looked down at her sadly. The men were still talking to Cinder, so it fell to her. Aqua understood that talking to the girl was important, as they were probably going to start getting information from her, but they were effectively ignoring Yang to do so.

"Hey," she called out, getting the men's attention. "I'm gonna bring the girls inside."

"OK," Taiyang said before returning to Cinder. Aqua led the two girls to the house, stepping inside and leaving the men to talk to Cinder.

* * *

Aqua walked the sisters to the living room and sat them down on the couch. She looked over to Taiyang's chair, and realized that there was a mostly-empty beer can next to it. She looked at the can sadly. She had been under the impression that Taiyang had been trying to stop drinking, but it seemed the stress of Ruby's kidnapping had caused a relapse. Normally the thought of him drinking when his daughters needed him made Aqua angry, but in this circumstance she understood why he did it. She focused her attention back on the blonde girl, who was trying to look like nothing was wrong, but doing a terrible job at it if the glistening in her eyes was any indication.

"Yang," Aqua said, getting the girl's attention, "what's wrong, sweetie?"

"Nothing," she said, not meeting Aqua's eyes.

"Yang, look at me," she said. The girl looked up and she could see the tears forming. "It's OK, Yang. We're here for you. You can tell us what's bothering you. Right, Ruby?"

"Yeah!" Ruby said happily, nodding her head. "I don't want you to be sad, sis." Yang was clearly still trying to contain herself, but it was getting harder for her.

"Is this about your mother?" Aqua asked. Yang only nodded. "Do you want to talk about it?" Yang looked her right in the eyes, and Aqua's heart sank as the girl's tears began to flow freely.

"Why doesn't she want me?" Yang sobbed. She was instantly scooped into a hug by Aqua, Ruby joining in. Aqua pat Yang's back soothingly, allowing her to cry into her shoulder. "What did I ever do?" Yang's tears had even started to make Ruby tear up, and Aqua even found herself struggling to contain her own. "Why didn't I ever get to have a mom?"

"You did have one," Aqua said. "Summer was your mom."

"No she wasn't," Yang said. "You heard Uncle Qrow. She was Ruby's mom."

"Family is a bit more complicated than that," Aqua said to the girl, breaking the hug so she could hold her shoulders. She looked Yang right in her lilac eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"Family is more than just blood. It's about what that person means to you. Did you ever feel that Summer wasn't really your mom while she was alive?"

"No," Yang admitted. "I always saw her as my mom."

"Then there you have it," Aqua said with a smile. "She may not have given birth to you, but she was your mom, and from what I've heard, she loved you like she did give birth to you. Would you really say that you _never_ had a mom?"

"I guess not," Yang said with a sniffle. The tears had finally stopped flowing freely, so Aqua figured she was doing something right.

"I'll let you in on a little secret about me," Aqua said to both girls. "I don't really remember my parents."

"You don't?" Ruby asked.

"No. I was taken from my home when I was very young to train with the Keyblade. I only have a few memories of either of them. But I never felt like I didn't have a family. I've always seen my master as a father, and my two friends Terra and Ven were with me the whole time. We weren't related at all, but we were family. Anybody can become family to you if you want them to and let them. So don't ever feel like you're alone or not wanted. You both still have each other, and your dad, and your uncle. You're surrounded by people that love you."

"What about you?" Yang asked. Aqua's eyes widened ever so slightly. "Are you family, too?" Aqua was slightly taken aback, but smiled widely at the blonde.

"Do you want me to be?"

"Yeah," Yang nodded. "I do." Aqua's smile only widened, and she felt tears coming on.

"Then yes, I'm your family, too."

"YAY!" Ruby cheered, hugging Yang tightly. "Family!" Aqua wiped a tear from her eye and joined the sisters in their hug.

"Yeah," she said. "Family." After a few seconds, they broke the hug. "So?" she asked Yang. "Feeling better?"

"A little bit," Yang said. "Thank you."

"You're very welcome," Aqua said happily, rustling Yang's hair affectionately. She looked at the girl in thought. "I want to show you something," she said to the blonde. Yang looked at her expectantly. "One of the few things I remember about my mother is that when I was feeling upset or sad about something, she would brush my hair to help me relax. It always worked, so I figured we could try it."

"Okay," Yang said, hopping off the couch and walking to the bathroom. Ruby followed her while Aqua went into the kitchen to get a chair. She dragged it into the bathroom, where Yang was waiting a little apprehensively. Ruby was practically bouncing in excitement. Seriously, how was she so happy all the time? Not that Aqua was complaining. The girl's antics never failed to put a smile on her face, but she just came back home after being kidnapped. Nobody would blame her for being at least a little shaken-up, but no, she was the same little ball of sunshine she always was. Aqua placed the chair in the middle of the bathroom and motioned for Yang to sit down. After the girl was seated, she removed the ribbons holding her hair in pigtails, allowing her blonde hair to fall down past her shoulders. Aqua ran her hands through it to loosen it up, and could easily feel the knots in her hair.

"Do you keep it in pigtails all the time?" Aqua asked. Yang nodded. "Well, it's no wonder there are so many knots in it."

"Really?" the girl asked.

"Yeah. It's actually not healthy for your hair to let it get this knotted. You could end up with split ends, and those are just the worst to deal with," Aqua said with a chuckle. She picked up the brush and held it up to Yang's hair, holding on to a few strands near the end. "The best place to start when brushing your hair is near the bottom. That way you can gently work the knots out without pulling on your hair." She began brushing Yang's hair exactly as she described it, and she could see the girl's form relax as she worked.

"That feels so nice," Yang said quietly. Aqua smiled at her.

"Told you. I sometimes still do this to help me unwind."

"I want next," Ruby said. Aqua chuckled.

"Of course." Aqua continued brushing Yang's hair softly for the next several minutes, and she could have sworn Yang was about to fall asleep from being so relaxed by the time she finished.

"All done," she said happily. "Want to see?" Yang visibly came back to life, looking at Aqua happily. She stood up on the chair, and was stunned by the view in the mirror.

"Wow, you look so pretty, sis!" Ruby said. Yang was surprised that simply brushing seemed to make her hair fuller. It was now cascading behind her, instead of the matted mess she had before.

"Yes, you do," Aqua agreed with the younger sister. Yang's surprise soon was replaced with happiness as she looked at her new look. "You know, you should leave your hair down like that. It really is beautiful."

"You think so?" Yang asked.

"Definitely. You just need to make sure you take really good care of it."

"Yeah, I will," Yang said happily, going back to admiring herself in the mirror.

"My turn! My turn!" Ruby said excitedly. Yang jumped off the chair to make room for her sister, whom Aqua scooped up and sat down.

* * *

Ruby was practically radiating happiness by the time she playfully skipped out of the bathroom with Yang and Aqua following her. Since Ruby's hair was shorter than Yang's, the brushing didn't really affect her as much as her older sister, but the brush still made it at least look more voluminous, and that was good enough for the little girl. Her happiness was infectious, as both her teacher and her older sister couldn't help the huge smiles on their faces either. Taiyang and Qrow had walked into the house with Cinder, evidently having finished talking to her. The girls instantly ran into the living room to greet them.

"Look, look!" Ruby said excitedly. "Look at our hair, daddy!"

"Looking good, girls," he said, rustling his hang through Ruby's hair. "Did you do this with Aqua?"

"Yeah," she said. "Yang was feeling sad so Aqua brushed her hair to help make her feel better."

"Really?" Qrow asked. "You OK, Firecracker?"

"Yeah," Yang said. "I'm fine." Qrow moved to rustle her hair like Taiyang did with Ruby, but Yang backed away from him. "No!" she said. "Don't touch my hair! It'll get knots!" Qrow could only rub the back of his head sheepishly. Ruby walked up to Cinder and grabbed both of her hands.

"Cindy! Let's do your hair, too!"

"Mine?" she asked, a little surprised.

"Yeah," Yang said, smiling. "Aqua showed us how to do it, so we can help brush your hair. It feels soooooo good."

"U-um," Cinder stuttered.

"Come on!" Ruby shouted, dragging Cinder towards the bathroom, Yang getting behind her and pushing.

"Hold on!" Cinder tried to protest. "Don't pull!" The three girls disappeared into the bathroom, and the men walked up to Aqua.

"So," Qrow said with a smirk. "Doing each other's hair, huh?"

"You wouldn't get it," she smirked right back. "It's a girl thing."

"I think it's pretty great that you did that for them," Taiyang said. "But what was Yang upset about?" Aqua's smile vanished.

"She was upset because her own mother doesn't want anything to do with her." Taiyang looked sadly at the closed bathroom door. "Just keep an eye on her. I cheered her up, but this problem is definitely not going away any time soon."

"Yeah," he said, sounding defeated. "Thanks for cheering her up."

"Anytime," Aqua said before looking at Qrow. "So, what did you find out about Cinder?"

"Well, first off, she's 12, and she's from a frontier village in Mistral," he said.

"She's still so young," Aqua said sadly.

"In terms of family, she lived with her father and her step-mother. She's really close with her father, but not so much with her step-mother. A little over a month ago, her village was attacked by Grimm. She got separated from her parents, and she wandered into Raven's territory by accident. They picked her up, and we didn't find her for another month. Apparently, from what Raven told her, she was planning on grooming the girl to be her apprentice, and has spent the last month trying to break her spirits."

"How awful," Aqua said in disgust. "I can't believe a girl that young had to go through that."

"It's more common than you think," Qrow said.

"Which part?"

"Both. The Grimm attacks are why Huntsman exist in the first place, but we can't save every town. As for the bandits, they've been a problem for a long time."

"So there are more tribes than just the Branwens?"

"Oh yeah," Qrow confirmed. "A lot more. Especially in Mistral."

"That's terrible," Aqua said sadly.

"That's life on Remnant," he said in resignation.

"Anyway," Taiyang said, "We need to figure out what to do with Cinder."

"Yeah," Aqua nodded. "We have to figure out how to get her back to her family."

"You can leave that to me," Qrow said. "Oz and I can talk to the other Headmasters of the other Academies. We can cast a wide net and find them in no time."

"Good," Aqua said.

"What are we going to do with her in the meantime?" Taiyang asked.

"I guess she can stay with me," Aqua offered.

"Wait, seriously?" Qrow asked. "That's a lot to take on, Wonder Woman. You sure you can handle it?"

"I got this," she said. "It's the only real option we have. She can't stay here. Taiyang has his hands full with his daughters, and I'm not entirely convinced that you aren't homeless," she said with a laugh.

"Hey!" Qrow said jokingly.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding," she said, putting her hands up in mock surrender. "But really, it's no problem. Hopefully, it won't be long before we reunite her with her parents."

"Yeah," Qrow said. "We'll get on it." At that moment, the girls finally walked out of the bathroom. Cinder's hair had been brushed just like the sisters, and was draped over her left shoulder. Her face was currently the same shade of red as her dress.

"TA-DA!" Ruby said as both sisters were gesturing dramatically towards the older girl, pretending as if they were presenting her.

"Presenting the new-and-improved Cindy!" Yang yelled excitedly.

"Oh, wow!" Aqua said. "You look very pretty, Cinder. The girls did a great job."

"Really?" Cinder asked, her blush deepening.

"Absolutely."

"Thanks," Cinder said, smiling widely.

"Alright, girls," Taiyang said, getting his daughters' attention. "Cinder needs to rest. Say goodbye for now."

"Where am I going?" the black-haired girl asked.

"Is it OK with you with you if you stay with me?" Aqua asked.

"Yeah!" Cinder said excitedly. "But what about my family?"

"We're gonna find them," Qrow said. "Don't worry. I know people that can help look for them."

"Oh, thank you," Cinder said, breathing a sigh of relief.

"So, if you're ready," Aqua said, "We'll pick you up some new clothes, head to my place, and you can finally take a shower."

"Sounds good."

* * *

Aqua sat in a chair next to the table in her hotel room, finally taking a well-deserved break, staring at her Wayfinder in the light of the moon coming from the window. Cinder was sound asleep in the bed, wearing the new red pajamas they bought before going home. After leaving the Xiao Long/Rose household, Aqua had taken the girl to get some new clothes, since the only article of clothing she owned was a ripped dress. Most of the new clothes she bought was primarily red, clearly being her favorite color. As soon as they got back to the room, Cinder had gone right into the shower, gotten into her new pajamas, which consisted of a red tee-shirt and black shorts, and fell asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow. Aqua was taken out of her musings when she heard a knock on the door. She got up to open the door, without putting her Wayfinder back into her pocket. She opened up the door and was no longer in any way surprised to see Qrow standing on the other side.

"Hey—" he started to say, but Aqua put a finger up to her lips to silence him. He cocked an eyebrow up and Aqua pointed to the sleeping Cinder. He nodded in understanding, and Aqua gestured to the door to the balcony, indicating that she wanted the conversation to move out there. They walked out to the balcony and closed the door behind them, the two of them leaning up against the rail to look out over the town.

"So, how did it go?" she asked.

"I got in touch with Haven's Headmaster. He's a guy named Lionheart. He started a search for the kid's family. His people will handle it. Now we just wait."

"That's good," she said, holding her hand to her chest in relief. Her hand still happened to be holding her Wayfinder. Qrow pulled out his flask and took a swig.

"I guess if there's one good thing to come out of this whole mess, it's the fact that we got that girl out of there. She doesn't deserve this."

"No, she doesn't," she said before looking at him with a smirk. "I didn't know you could be so optimistic."

"I can't be all down-in-the-dumps all the time," he said with his own smirk. "But seriously, though, I don't think I can thank you enough for what you did today."

"It was nothing," she said sheepishly.

"No, it's not nothing," he said sternly. "Ruby is the world to me. If we lost her…" he trailed off.

"I can't imagine."

"She's all I have left of Summer," he said quietly, possibly hoping she wouldn't hear him.

"When we first met, you said something about 'mourning Summer longer than anyone else'. What did that mean?" Qrow sighed and took another swig from his flask.

"Nothing gets past you, Wonder Woman, does it?" He sighed again. "I guess I know way more about you than you wanted anyone to know, so it's only fair. I've been in love with Summer since we became partners at Beacon."

"Partners?" Aqua asked, not at all surprised by his admission. She suspected this for a while. He pulled out a picture and handed it to her. There were four people standing in front of a large tree in it, three of which she recognized. She could easily pick out a slightly younger Qrow and Taiyang, and she scowled at the recognition of Raven. The fourth person was a girl she didn't recognize. She couldn't see most of her face due to the long white hooded cloak she wore. All she could see was a single silver eye and the black hair that turned red at the tips, which was all she needed to see to know that she was clearly Summer Rose. Interestingly, there were water stains on the picture, directly on the spot Summer's picture was located.

"At Beacon, students get split up into teams of four. We were Team STRQ, the best damn team to ever graduate, if I do say so myself. She was our leader, and my partner."

"How did you become partners?"

"Eye contact." Aqua raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"Oz tends to throw people into the forest for initiation, and the first person you make eye contact with becomes your partner. So imagine my surprise when I land in the forest and get greeted by the most beautiful eyes I'd ever seen. I was speechless."

"You? Speechless?" Aqua teased. "Wish I could've seen that."

"You know you like me and my wit, Wonder Woman," he said with a chuckle. "After we finished up initiation, I realized that not only was she beautiful, she had the purest heart of anyone I had ever met before or since. At least until the pipsqueak was born." He smiled fondly at the memory. "She had so much enthusiasm for everything, she wanted to make everyone around her smile. She loved with all her heart, and if you were her friend, she made sure you knew how much she appreciated you. I loved absolutely everything about her." His eyes were beginning to glisten a little bit in the moonlight, surprising Aqua. She had never seen an indication that Qrow was even capable of crying, so she knew how true his feelings were if it was making him this emotional.

"I probably know the answer to this question," she said, "but you never told her, did you?"

"No, I didn't," he said with a sigh. "It wouldn't have worked out."

"Why not?" Aqua asked. "You're a great guy." She didn't miss the blush that adorned his face, feeling her own start once she realized what she said.

"Uh, t-thanks," he stuttered. "But, uh, there's a particular problem that makes it hard to be around me."

"What's that?" He sighed again, deeper than any before.

"It's my Semblance," he said finally. She looked at him questioningly. "Look, I haven't even told my nieces what mine is, so it's not something I like to talk about."

"I won't judge," she said. "We're friends."

"I bring back luck. I can't control it or turn it off, but just being around me makes bad things happen. It makes being close to people a little difficult." He gripped the handle of the railing really hard. "I didn't want to hurt her, so I kept my distance. You already know that after Raven left, Summer started helping Tai out with Yang. I didn't even know they had started sleeping together until she ended up pregnant. I started drinking right after that. Helps me forget what couldn't be." Aqua surprised the both of them by pulling him backwards into a hug, a few tears in her eyes.

"For what it's worth," she said softly. "I'm glad I met you. And those girls love you with all their hearts, so don't feel like you have nobody."

"Thanks, Aqua," he said after a few seconds, and she squeezed a little tighter before letting go. She was still holding her Wayfinder in her hand, and Qrow saw it when he turned around.

"You've been through something similar, right?" he asked. It was her turn to sigh.

"Yeah," she said. He had shared his tragic love life, so it was only fair to share her own. "Terra. I've loved him for years."

"And you never said anything either?" She shook her head.

"No. He was so kind, and caring, and passionate, but for some reason, I was always too afraid that he didn't feel the same way, so I never said anything. Sorry that my reason isn't as heart-wrenching as yours," she said with a small laugh.

"Well, he would've been a fool not to," he said, making her blush again.

"Thanks," she said sheepishly.

"Any time," he said, raising his flask. "To unrequited love." At that, he took another swig. She giggled a little bit at his antics. They made eye contact, and she found herself blushing a little bit again at his red orbs.

_Have his eyes always been that pretty?_ She thought.

"Well, I'm gonna take off. It was good talking to you, Wonder Woman."

"Y-Yeah," she said, shaking off her blush. "Goodnight, Qrow."

"Goodnight." He opened up the door to the balcony to walk back through the hotel room, making sure to move quietly to not wake Cinder. Aqua leaned up against the railing, holding her Wayfinder up to the moonlight. Everything that had happened that day had her thinking.

The bandits she had encountered were some of the absolute worst human beings she had ever met. Sure, she had dealt with some _vile_ people, like Maleficent, Lady Tremaine, and of course Xehanort. But never had she seen a group of people living the depths of human depravity at a level of the Branwen Tribe. And according to Qrow, there were plenty more people like that. Aqua had assumed from the beginning that Remnant was in the Realm of Darkness, and it was clear that the darkness had affected the people living in this world. And her thoughts returned to Ruby's dream.

_ "You are the one who will bring back the light."_

She knew what Ruby's destiny was. Ruby was destined to restore Remnant to the Realm of Light. She had no idea how it got in the Realm of Darkness in the first place, but it was Ruby's job to fix it. And Aqua was going to do whatever it took to help her do it.

After all…

It was her mission.

**AN: Not gonna lie, I teared up a little but when I wrote Yang asking why Raven didn't want her. Gets me every time.**

**The hair brushing scene was something that I wanted to write about from the very beginning. Given how much Yang cares about her hair, I knew this would have significance to either signify how much she trusts Aqua, or to show why she cares about her hair so much, which is ultimately the one I went with. So yes, this is the start if Yang's obsession with her hair, since it was the reason for her first bonding session with Aqua.**

**Speaking of Aqua bonding, she got to grow closer to a few characters this chapter. She and Qrow share their less-than-successful love lives with each other and notice a couple similarities that serve as the basis for a deepening relationship between the two.**

**For those who haven't had a chance to check out my first fanfiction, it is a Bleach/RWBY crossover called "The Dragon, the Cat, the Champion, and the Soul Reaper". If you haven't checked it out, give it a read. The reason I bring it up is because I'm going to write a couple more chapters for that one next. I'm going to adopt a regular pattern. I'm going to write 2 chapters for the Bleach fic and then 2 chapters for this one, and so on. So, it'll take me a little bit to get the next chapter out for this story, but I'll have some more time to plan out next events. **

**Thanks again for reading it. I'll see you next time, and don't forget to show my other fic a little love.**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Hey, everybody. Hope you had a good holiday. Sorry this took so long. Grad school really tends to kick my ass. Plus, I had a spat of writer's block. I find as a whole that this story takes freaking forever to write. My apologies. **

**In other news, I'm really enjoying Volume 7 so far. Here's hoping it can stay at a good quality.**

**Also, just a heads-up, I expect this chapter to be fairly controversial. You'll see why.**

Chapter 8

Aqua blocked a swing from the large sword, bracing her Keyblade against her opponent's blade. She pushed the larger sword away before swinging at her enemy, who was able to duck under her attack. His sword folded downwards, revealing the shotgun barrel hidden underneath. He fired, and she deflected the bullets with her Keyblade before staring at his red eyes with a smirk. She could see a bead of sweat roll down his brow. Clearly he was expecting that attack to be more effective than it was.

It was almost cute that he thought it would work.

"Yeah, get him Aqua!" a young voice called from the side. Both Aqua and her opponent looked over to the three girls watching the fight. Ruby, Yang, and Cinder were watching in excitement, and Ruby was the one that had shouted.

"You can do it, Aqua!" Cinder shouted, just as enthusiastic to see the Keyblade Master in action as her student was. Cinder was wearing some of the clothes that Aqua had purchased for her when they first met a month ago, which consisted of a simple white blouse, a red skirt, and black shoes. Her black hair was brushed so it was draped over her left shoulder, a style that she had begun wearing it in regularly since the sisters had brushed it that way. Of course, Aqua and the girls approved. Now that she had been fed regularly and allowed to rest comfortably, she had started looking significantly healthier, making it apparent just how pretty the girl was. Aqua thought that when Cinder was a little older, she would probably have to start fighting the boys off with a stick. Aqua sighed at the thought. They really needed to find her parents, and fast.

Sitting in between Aqua's student and temporary ward (at least until they found her parents) was Yang, who had taken Aqua's advice and stopped wearing her hair in pigtails. While the girl loved her new style, that apparently wasn't enough for her to root for the woman.

"Kick her butt, Uncle Qrow!" the blonde yelled, causing both of the other girls to glare at her. Aqua and her sparring partner both chuckled at the three spectators.

"You hear that?" Qrow asked. "I got at least one of them cheering for me."

"Better not let her down, then," Aqua said.

"Hey, Yang!" he called out. "You're my new favorite!"

"What?!" Ruby shouted, shocked, horrified, and angry at having lost her "favorite niece" status. Yang, however, was angry for different reasons.

"What do you mean "new" favorite?!" Yang asked. "I wasn't already?!" Cinder could only laugh at the sisters' antics.

"Oh boy," Qrow sighed. "I'm gonna pay for that later, aren't I?"

"Probably," Aqua said.

"Kick his butt, Aqua!" the sisters both shouted at the same time, causing Cinder to start giggling uncontrollably.

"Well, you heard them," Aqua said with a smirk.

"Let's just get this over with," Qrow said with a sigh. He raised his sword to prepare himself for her attack. She charged at him, and the two of them clashed swords again. He pressed back against her Keyblade, when the blue glyph of her Semblance appeared on the ground underneath her.

"Hercules!" She shouted, and Qrow's eyes widened at the realization that he had never seen that summon before. A crystalline figure appeared, just like normal, but this one was a scrawny teenage boy wearing a toga. Qrow's surprise faded into disappointment at the unassuming looks of the summon, only to double over in pain when the boy punched him in the stomach.

"What the hell?" he coughed out, and then the summon of Hercules grabbed him by the ankle, spun around several times, and threw him through the air, causing him to lose his grip on his sword, the weapon flying away from him. He landed on his back, but before he could recover, Aqua quickly sat over him and pressed the "blade" of her Keyblade against his throat.

"Gotcha," she said. "Give up?" He let the back of his head hit the ground in defeat.

"Can we go back to when you didn't have your Semblance?" he asked. "I used to win then." He lifted his head back up to look at her, and raised an amused eyebrow. "Well, this is awfully forward of you, huh, Wonder Woman?" Confused, she looked down and realized why he was so amused.

In order to press her Keyblade against his throat, she had to practically straddle him. She was only on one knee, granted, but the close proximity of their bodies was enough to have her blushing profusely. She immediately stood up and took several steps back, refusing to make eye contact with him.

"Jerk!" she yelled, causing him to chuckle as he picked himself up.

"Sorry, sorry," he said. "I just couldn't resist."

"Whatever," she said, still refusing to meet his totally-not-gorgeous eyes.

"So," he said, trying to change the subject, "that was a new summon."

"That was Hercules," she said. In her many spars with Qrow since unlocking her Semblance, she had come to realize that it allowed her to summon copies of her friends. However, she was not able to summon Terra, Ven, or Master Eraqus, leading her to believe that the friends she could summon had to still be alive, or at least still have their hearts. Distressingly, she also found that she couldn't summon Zack, leaving her to wonder what had happened to him.

"Who's that?" Qrow took her out of her thoughts about her friends with his question.

"I met him on a world called Olympus Coliseum. He's the son of Zeus, the King of the Gods."

"So that strength that threw me like a ragdoll was divine? Well, that's slightly less emasculating." Aqua chuckled, finally fully getting over her embarrassment from earlier, when she heard a few sets of feet approaching. They turned around and saw the three girls approaching them. Ruby and Yang had huge smiles on their faces, while Cinder had a light blush on her face. Evidently, the girl, being older than the sisters, noticed exactly how close Aqua and Qrow's bodies were earlier, and just like that, Aqua's blush returned.

"That was awesome, Aqua!" Ruby yelled excitedly.

"Yeah, you kicked his butt!" Yang yelled, and the girls' praise caused Aqua to smile. The sisters sent a glare Qrow's way, causing the blue-haired Master to start laughing.

"Alright," Qrow said in defeat, "I'm sorry about the whole 'favorite niece' thing. It was just a joke. You're both my favorites."

"Really?" Ruby asked suspiciously.

"Would I lie to you?" He asked.

"Yes," the girls said at the same time without a second of hesitation, causing Aqua and Cinder to laugh.

"Yeah, I guess I walked into that one," Qrow said, taking out his flask and taking a swig.

"Alright," Aqua said, still giggling a little bit, "I'm getting hungry. Why don't we go inside and get lunch?"

"How are you hungry?" Cinder asked. "You barely broke a sweat."

"Oh come on!" Qrow yelled indignantly. "Even you, Cinder?" Cinder's only response was to playfully stick her tongue out at the older Huntsman.

"Okay, that's enough teasing," Aqua said, gesturing towards the house. "Leave him alone. Let's go eat."

* * *

"No fair!" Aqua yelled, gripping her Scroll tightly in anger. "My controller froze up!" Qrow just sent her a cheeky grin. She glared at him in return. After they ate lunch, Qrow had insisted that the two of them play some fighting game called "Kung Fu Ninja Slayer Ultimate Death Battle", whatever _that_ name was supposed to mean. She immediately knew it was to make up for losing their spar earlier, but her controller stopped working repeatedly during the fight. She then realized that it must have been his Semblance that caused it. This must have been his plan all along. Jerk.

"Sure, blame the controller," Qrow said, his smirk widening into a full smile. "Likely excuse."

"It happens every time I play against him, too," Yang said, sitting on the couch next to Aqua, watching the two of them play. "It's weird, right?" Yang's words caused Aqua to look at the older Huntsman in sheer disappointment. It seemed he made a habit out of exploiting his Semblance to cheat at video games.

"Do you have no shame?" Aqua asked him.

"Nope," he said, popping the "p" sound, making Aqua scoff. "Wanna go again?"

"No, thanks," Aqua said, handing the controller to Yang while she got up and walked over to the kitchen table. Ruby and Cinder were sitting there, Ruby using crayons to color in a picture, and Cinder looking over her. The picture was of a cabin in a forest, and Aqua couldn't help but feel like it strongly resembled the Xiao Long/Rose household. "Where'd you get the picture from?"

"Cindy drew it!" Ruby said excitedly, not looking up from coloring in the picture. Aqua raised her eyebrows towards the older girl in surprise.

"Really?" Aqua asked, and Cinder nodded nervously. "Wow. That's really good."

"You mean it?" Cinder asked.

"Yes, I do," Aqua said with a smile. "That's this house, right?"

"Yeah," Cinder said. "I just did it from memory. Ruby saw it and asked to color it in."

"Awwwwww," Aqua cooed, causing Cinder to blush profusely. "That's so cute!"

"Stop," Cinder whined. "It's not that big a deal."

"Done!" Ruby said excitedly, holding up the drawing she finished coloring. It definitely depicted the house they were currently sitting in, colored brown, with the forest in the background colored appropriately. It was a little sloppy, but she was a little kid, after all.

"Good job, Ruby!" Aqua said with a smile, patting her head affectionately, causing the girl to smile up at her.

"Cindy's really good at drawing," Ruby said. "Can you draw me another picture to color?"

"Sure," the older girl said with a smile, reaching for another piece of paper and her pencil. As she did that, Tai walked into the room from the kitchen.

"Daddy, look at what I did!" Ruby said, showing him the picture she just colored.

"Very nice," he said with a smile.

"Cindy drew it for me."

"Really?"

"Yes," Cinder said, now getting a little bit aggravated at how big of a deal her drawing abilities were.

"Nice job." He walked into the doorway to the living room to get his brother-in-law's attention. "Qrow, I've got everything set up for tomorrow. You'll be able to make it, right?"

"Wait, it's tomorrow?" Qrow asked. Aqua left her position next to Ruby and Cinder and walked towards the living room to listen to them. She was just in time to see Qrow check the date on his Scroll. "Ah, shit, it is."

"Swear!" Ruby called out from her chair.

"Sorry!" Qrow called back.

"So, can you make it?" Tai asked him again.

"Of course I can. I wouldn't miss this."

"What's tomorrow?" Aqua asked, only to become instantly uncomfortable with the sadness in the eyes of the men as they turned to look at her.

"Tomorrow is—or would be—Summer's birthday," Tai said. "We're going to go visit her grave."

"It's only her second birthday since we lost her," Qrow said.

"Hey, Dad," Yang said, turning around to face them, "Can Aqua and Cinder come with us?"

"What?" Aqua asked, completely stunned at Yang's request.

"Yeah!" Ruby agreed. "I want them to meet Mommy!" The men looked at each other for a second before Qrow shrugged nonchalantly.

"Sure, they can come with us," Tai said to his daughters, surprising Aqua and Cinder.

"Really?" Aqua asked. "You're okay with us being there?"

"Yeah," Cinder agreed with the older woman. "Isn't this more of a family thing?"

"You two are family, though," Yang said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"We are?" Cinder asked, taken aback with a huge blush on her face.

"Yup," Ruby said. "Aqua told us that anyone can be family if you want them to, and we want you to be family."

"Exactly," Tai said, "Therefore, it's only fitting that you go with us to see Summer's grave."

"Well then I have no problem with it." Aqua said. "What about you, Cinder?"

"If it's really okay," she said, still a little uncertain.

"Absolutely," Tai said, smiling at her.

"Then yes, I'd like to go with you all."

"Yay!" Ruby shouted. "Mommy will love you!"

"Yeah, I'm sure she will," Qrow said quietly.

"Hey Aqua, wanna play against me?" Yang asked from the couch.

"What? Don't wanna play with me anymore?" Qrow asked the blonde.

"No, you're not fun to play against," Yang said matter-of-factly.

"Fine then, I'm gonna spend time with my _fun_ niece."

"Whatever," Yang said, not falling for the bait this time. Qrow just stood up, deflated, and shuffled over to where Ruby and Cinder were sitting. Aqua chuckled at the older Huntsman as she sat down on the couch next to Yang, grabbing a controller.

* * *

The next day, things were tense at the Xiao Long/Rose household almost as soon as Aqua and Cinder arrived. Ruby and Yang were ready to go, but evidently Tai was having some problems, since Qrow was currently outside the blond man's bedroom door, trying to coax the man out of his room.

"Tai, come on!" Qrow called at the door.

"Hold on!" the blond man yelled from the other side of the door.

"Is there a problem?" Aqua asked. She had left Cinder downstairs with Ruby and Yang while she went upstairs to see what was going on.

"For some reason Tai won't come out of his room," Qrow answered, pulling out his flask and taking a swig.

"Just give me a few minutes!" Tai yelled from his room again.

"Tai, what's wrong?" Aqua asked through the door. "You know you can talk to us." She heard the lock click, and the door opened slightly, allowing Tai to stick his head out of the door.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm just having a tough time right now."

"Well, do you need anything?" she asked, looking at him in concern.

"I just need a few minutes. You and Qrow can take the girls and go ahead of me. I'll catch up."

"Are you sure, Tai?" Qrow asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine in a couple minutes. Just go on ahead." Aqua and Qrow shared a look at each other before turning back to look at Tai.

"If you're absolutely sure," Aqua said uncertainly.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Just go." He pulled his head back inside his bedroom, closing the door behind him. Aqua and Qrow shared another concerned look before Qrow shrugged uncertainly. He turned around to walk down the stairs. Aqua sent another glance at the closed bedroom door before following him down the stairs. The adults walked over to the three girls sitting on the couch.

"Where's dad?" Yang asked. Qrow rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, gesturing for Aqua to tell them.

_Traitor_, she thought, before looking back at the girls.

"Um, he said to go on without him. He needs a few minutes. He'll catch up."

"Is he okay?" Cinder asked.

"Yeah," Aqua answered a little uncertainly, "I think he's just overwhelmed." That answer seemed to satisfy Cinder and Yang, but Ruby looked confused.

"What does that mean?" the girl asked.

"It means he's feeling a lot of emotions, and is having a hard time dealing with them."

"That sounds scary," Ruby replied with a frown.

"It can be," Aqua said with a sad smile. "But, he can handle it. I have faith."

"You and me both," Qrow said, but it didn't quite sound like even he believed it. Aqua sent him a concerned look, but the older Huntsman just shrugged uncertainly.

She really hoped it was true, and that he'd be able to handle whatever it was he was going through. Something about this just gave her a bad feeling, and she could tell that Qrow felt the same way. She quashed it to avoid worrying the girls.

"Alright, let's head out," Qrow said, clearly trying to make sure the girls didn't think about it too much. Cinder looked at the two of them suspiciously, but Aqua sent her best attempt at a reassuring smile before getting up to head to the front door. She opened it up, and gestured for the three girls and man to leave.

* * *

Qrow guided the three girls and the Keyblade Master to their destination. They traveled through the woods of Patch, the man himself remaining quiet the whole trip while Ruby chatted animatedly with her sister, friend, and teacher.

Qrow had traveled to a lot of places in his work for Ozpin. From the harsh deserts of Vacuo, to the bandit-riddled forests of Mistral, to nests of some the nastiest Grimm he had ever seen. And yet, despite everything he's seen and everywhere he's been, there remained one place that he knew was his absolute least favorite place in all of Remnant. And he was guiding his family there.

The group of five came out of the woods and stepped out onto a cliff overlooking the sea. Under ordinary circumstances, the view would be gorgeous, but there was one major blemish that ruined the whole scene and made Qrow sick to his stomach to look at. Stuck in the ground near the cliff's edge was a square stone. Engraved on it was a rose emblem. As the group approached the stone, they could see words etched underneath it. Two simple lines of text, six words that served as proof that their family's lives had been turned upside down one fateful night a little over a year ago.

_Summer Rose_

_ Thus Kindly I Scatter_

She didn't deserve this. She should've been home with her daughters, watching movies, making cookies, and experiencing the joys of watching them grow up. Instead, she disappeared on a mission and all they had to remember her by was a damn rock in the ground. Ozpin hadn't even known the particulars of her last mission. She just left and never came back. She wasn't like Raven. She actually loved those girls, Tai, and…

She wouldn't have just left them. That's how Qrow knew something had happened to her when she didn't return. Since no one knew where she was going, he had no idea where to begin looking for her. One thing was for certain, though. _She _had something to do with it.

It must have been those beautiful silver eyes of Summer's. Ozpin had explained to her, to all of Team STRQ what her silver eyes meant. He had no doubt it led _her_ right to his old leader and partner. And now his niece had them, too.

When Summer became a mom, it brought her so much joy when she learned that her little rosebud had inherited her eye color, and it made Qrow happy, too, at first. But after it happened, it just gave him anxiety. He loved Ruby's eyes, really, he did. They really helped her to look just like a miniature Summer, but he also knew that _she_ would eventually come for her, just like her mom. It was part of the reason why he agreed so readily with Aqua about training her with that fancy Keyblade weapon. If it was going to help her stay alive against the forces coming for her, then he would never say no.

He had to choke down the bile that threatened to come up his throat as the group finally approached the gravestone. There it was right in front of him, taunting him. Brothers, he hated coming here. The stone always made it feel too real. That she was gone. That he'd never see her again. That he'd never be able to tell her how he felt. Don't get him wrong, he knew he never would, but there was a difference between choosing to never do something, and having that choice taken away. That one hurt a lot more.

The group stopped in front of the grave, Aqua, Cinder and Yang having more solemn expressions on their faces than his distraught, nauseous one. Ruby, on the other hand…

"Happy birthday, Mommy!" she exclaimed happily. Bless her heart. It really seemed like absolutely nothing could get her down. She was reminding him more of Summer every day. She was hopelessly optimistic all the time, too. It was one of the things he loved most about her. Thankfully, Ruby's typical exuberance helped to bring the mood back up, if only a little, if the amused smile on Aqua's face was any indication. "I miss you! So, I've been good. Yang's been helping me read, and Daddy and Uncle Qrow have been really good. Oh, and I started training with new weapon! It's called a Keyblade and it's like the coolest thing ever!" She rattled on and on about the Keyblade for several minutes before Aqua finally stopped her.

"Ruby, don't you think Yang wants to talk to your mom, too?" Ruby at least had the good graces to look sheepish at that.

"Sorry, Yang," she said, an embarrassed blush on her face.

"It's okay, sis," Yang said, giving Ruby a quick hug before walking up to the grave. "Hey, Mom," she said somberly. "How are you? I guess you can't really answer that, huh?" She rubbed the back of her head nervously, clearly uncomfortable with the whole situation. "Oh, uh, happy birthday." She paused for a second, and Qrow could hear her breathing become more strained. "I just miss you so much." He could hear her fighting back the tears. Despite his best efforts, he could feel his own starting to well up.

_No_, he thought. _No, I'm not going to cry. They don't need to see that._ He couldn't help it. Just as Yang said, he really missed Summer. He had never stopped thinking about her since the day he—_they_—lost her. They lost her. He had to remind himself that he wasn't the only one in mourning. He had just been doing it longer. Despite his promise to himself, he still felt the tears threatening to bubble to the surface. He tried to lift his right hand to wipe the tears away, but found that it wouldn't move. That was weird. He looked down to inspect the problem, and was surprised to find another hand gripping his tightly. He followed the hand, up the arm, past the shoulder, and saw a head of blue hair. That's when it finally dawned on him. Aqua was holding his hand. _When did she do that?_ He thought. "Aqua?" he asked, getting her attention. She turned to look at him, and saw the glistening in his eyes, and gave him a smile.

He was speechless. Was her smile always that beautiful?

"It's okay," she said. "You can let it out. I'm here for you." There was something about Aqua's words or her tone of voice that was reassuring to him. And so he finally allowed himself what to do what he denied for the last year.

He cried.

* * *

Aqua watched as Ruby, Yang, and Cinder conversed with each other around Summer's grave. She had her opportunity to "meet" Summer after she was finished comforting Qrow. She knew how major it was for him that he finally allowed himself to cry. He really came across as someone who really didn't like to show his emotions, so it was great that he finally let it out. But there was one thing that bothered her.

When had she taken his hand? She genuinely couldn't remember doing it. She just turned around after he called her name and realized that they were holding hands. Not that it was necessarily unpleasant.

_Where did that come from?_ She asked herself at that thought. She looked over at the Huntsman in question, and he was looking at his scroll with a concerned look on his face.

"What's up?" she asked. He looked up at her and showed her the time on his scroll.

"We've been here for over two hours," he said.

"Really? It's been that long?" He nodded, but he still looked troubled. "So what's the matter?"

"Who still hasn't shown up?" He asked her. She looked around and saw Ruby, Yang, and Cinder still talking to each other, and then to the two of them. And then it hit her.

"Tai," she whispered in realization.

"Yeah," Qrow said. "He told us he'd be right behind us. So what the hell's taking him so long?"

"You're right," she said, quickly growing just as concerned as he was. "He should've been here a long time ago."

"I have a really bad feeling about this," Qrow said, looking back in the direction of the cabin.

"Yeah, me too," Aqua said.

"Get the girls. We're gonna go check on him."

* * *

It was eerily quiet when the group walked back into the Xiao Long/Rose household. Aqua was instantly on edge. She and Qrow looked around the first floor of the household, but they couldn't find Tai anywhere.

"Tai!" Qrow called out. There was no answer. If Aqua wasn't worried before, she definitely was now.

"Tai! Are you here?!" Aqua called out to him, still without receiving a response. The three girls with them were shifting uncomfortably behind them.

"Where's Daddy?" Ruby asked.

"I don't know, sweetheart," Aqua said, doing her best to keep her voice calm. Cinder walked up to her and whispered into her ear.

"What's going on?" she asked the blue-haired Keyblade Master. "I can tell something's up." Ah, yes. Aqua forgot that since Cinder was older than the sisters, her token efforts to keep them from worrying weren't going to work on her. She was far more clued in that something was wrong.

"I don't know," Aqua said simply. "We're about to find out. I really hope that he went a different way and we just passed him. It's better than something bad happening to him." She gestured towards the sisters. "Just keep an eye on them, okay?" Cinder simply nodded.

"Let's check upstairs," Qrow said, approaching the two of them. Aqua nodded, and the group approached the stairs.

"Tai!" Qrow called again. Still no answer. "You here?!"

"Let's go," Aqua said, and the group walked up the stairs and approached Tai's bedroom door, which was still closed. She knocked on the door. No response. She called his name once again. No response. She tried to open the door. It was locked. The bedroom doors in this house only locked from the inside, which meant he never left his room. Aqua began to feel an intense sense of dread, and she hoped that it didn't mean the worst. "Tai, are you in there?" She called out to him one last time, hoping desperately that he'd respond. He didn't. She looked at Qrow, who nodded solemnly at her. "Tai, I'm coming in!" She summoned her Keyblade to her hand and pointed it at the lock. A beam of light shot from her Keyblade and towards the door lock. The group heard a "click", and it soon as the door was unlocked, Qrow barreled through it, desperate to find in brother-in-law. He froze almost as soon as he stepped into the room. Aqua followed him and was about to ask what was wrong, but then she looked down.

Laying on the floor was Tai. Aqua only allowed herself to be shocked for a few seconds before she found herself kneeling down next to him, trying to shake him awake, calling out his name. He wasn't responding. Qrow was right behind her, also trying to get Tai to wake up. Next to Tai was five empty bottles of whiskey, and it started to become apparent what had happened.

"Tai!" Qrow yelled, rolling the blond man over. "Get up!" While Qrow was trying to wake him up, Aqua placed her ear against his chest. Nothing.

"He's not breathing!" She said in alarm.

"Daddy?" Ruby asked, as the three girls looked into the bedroom. Their eyes widened when they saw their father lying on the floor.

"Dad!" Yang yelled, trying to push past her sister and Cinder.

"Cinder, get them out of here!" Aqua yelled, and Cinder quickly grabbed the other two girls before they could force their way into the room. The absolute last thing those girls needed to see was their father unresponsive on the floor.

"Dad!" Yang yelled again. "Let me go! What's wrong with him?! DAD!"

"Daddy!" Ruby yelled.

"Stop!" Cinder yelled, trying to wrestle with the girls.

"Get them out of here!" Aqua yelled again. Cinder, being older and taller than them, was able to wrestle the sisters out into the hallway.

"And call an ambulance!" Qrow called as she dragged the sisters kicking and screaming down the hall. He turned his attention back to the blond man, and began doing chest compressions to get his heart started again. "Come on, you son of a bitch," he muttered as he performed CPR. "Don't you dare do this to us."

"What happened to him?" Aqua said, trying her best to stay calm.

"His heart stopped. It looks like he drowned himself in alcohol while we were gone. Damn it! I knew something was up! Why the hell didn't I just listen to my gut?"

"What can we do to help him?"

"This CPR isn't working. We need to shock him. You got any magic that can do the trick?"

"Yeah, move," she said, summoning her Keyblade. She approached the prone form of Tai and pointed her weapon at his chest. "Thunder!" she shouted, and a bolt of lighting shot out the tip of her Keyblade and hit Tai square in the chest. His body jolted and his eyes shot open. He gasped for breath before promptly turning on his side and vomiting violently. Aqua and Qrow both tried calling his name again, but he fell unconscious again. Qrow placed his ear against Tai's chest to check his heart beat, and from his visible sigh of relief, she could tell it worked. She gave her own sigh, but she knew the danger hadn't passed. Thankfully, it was at that moment that they heard sirens from outside the house. They knew this meant that he'd get some real medical attention, allowing the two of them to finally relax.

* * *

"What a fucking mess," Qrow muttered from his seat next to Tai's hospital bed. The man himself was still unconscious. According to the doctor, he had consumed an insane amount of alcohol all at once, and if Aqua had waited any longer to get his heart started, then he definitely would have died. The doctor also said that he should be regaining consciousness soon.

"I just can't believe this happened," Aqua said from her seat next to Qrow. It was just the three adults in the hospital room, as they had left Cinder with Ruby and Yang in the waiting room. They were going to wait to see him until after Aqua and Qrow had spoken to him.

"I guess something like this was bound to happen eventually with his problems," Qrow commented.

"It never should have come to this."

"I know." They heard a moaning sound coming from Tai's hospital bed, and they looked at him to see his blue eyes flutter open.

"Qrow? Aqua?" He asked when he noticed the other two adults present in the room. "What happened?"

"You don't remember?" Qrow asked angrily. "You almost killed yourself." Tai looked down in shame, clearly remembering all of the alcohol he drank.

"Tai," Aqua said. "What happened to you?" He buried his face in his hands and gave the deepest sigh she had ever heard in her life.

"I fucked up," he said. "That's what happened."

"Tai," Qrow said. "You don't fuck up like this. How did this happen?"

"I don't know, okay? I just got thinking about Summer, and I just started drinking. I couldn't stop."

"Why couldn't you talk to us?" Aqua asked. "We could have done something to help."

"I don't know," Tai said again.

"Tai, I thought you were past this," Qrow said. "You can't do this. They need you. Those girls are relying on you to take care of them."

"Well maybe they shouldn't," Tai said quietly. Aqua and Qrow were stunned.

"What did you just say?" Aqua asked, her eyes wide open.

"Maybe they shouldn't rely on me," he said a little more loudly. Aqua could see tears beginning form in his eyes.

"What does that mean?" Qrow asked cautiously.

"I can't do this," he said, letting the tears flow freely. "I'm a mess. My daughters need me to be there for them, but I can't. I'm just a worthless drunk. And my girls are suffering while I can't get my shit together. I just can't do it. What the hell kind of father am I?" He buried his face into his hands and wept openly. Aqua and Qrow just looked at each other and the blond man in shock.

"Tai," Aqua said in concern.

"I just can't do this."

"Tai, what do you need?" Tai took a deep breath and looked Aqua straight in the eyes.

"I need you to move in."

"What?" Aqua and Qrow both asked.

"I want you to move in and help me take of the girls."

"Tai, hold on," Qrow said. "I know Aqua's been training Ruby and taking care of Cinder, but you can't just foist your own daughters onto her on top of that."

"They need more than I can provide for them."

"But it's not fair to her. You're basically asking her to go from being a teacher to a freaking mother of three."

"Well what do you want me to do?!" Tai roared.

"I want you to get your shit together and raise your daughters your own damn self!"

"I can't do it!"

"ENOUGH!" Aqua yelled, silencing the two men. They stopped their argument to look at her. "I'll do it."

"What?" Qrow asked, while Tai looked visibly relieved. "Aqua, you can't be serious."

"I am serious. As much as I don't like Tai trying to pass the girls to me, he has a point. As long as he's like this, those girls aren't going to be taken care of properly. So I'll do it. I'll move in to help take care of them."

"Thank you so much, Aqua," Tai said, the relief evident on his face.

"But," she said quickly, stopping him in his tracks, "I need your word that you WILL work on getting yourself cleaned up. You _will not_ use me being there as an excuse to not get better. Am I understood?"

"Yes, you are," Tai said, nodding his head eagerly. "Thank you so much."

"Aqua, are you sure about this?" Qrow asked. "You're already taking care of Cinder, are you sure you want to take this on, too? Taking care of three girls by yourself?"

"Oh, but I won't be by myself," Aqua said with a sly smile. "Because you'll be moving in, too."

"…Pardon?"

"I'm going to need help. So you'll need to move in, too."

"But I only have one guest bedroom," Tai said.

"We'll get a second bed for that room, then. Cinder can stay in the girls' room, and Qrow and I can stay in the guest bedroom. Problem solved."

"Well, yeah, I guess that solves that problem," Tai said, but Qrow still looked nervous about the idea.

"Is there still a problem, Qrow?" she asked. He looked down, refusing to meet her eyes. And then she remembered something he said earlier. "Is it your Semblance?" His widened a little bit, and he looked up to meet her eyes. "I thought so."

"I don't think me being around is a good idea. I don't want any of you getting hurt because of me." Aqua sat in thought for a few minutes.

"If it makes you feel better, you don't have to move in," she finally said. "But I expect you to help me anyway. Is that a good compromise?" He still looked uncertain. "Look, Qrow, I understand being afraid of your Semblance, considering what it is, but trust me, Ruby and Yang love you and want to spend time with you. When they get older, and realize what your Semblance is, this time now when you put your fear of yourself aside for their sake will mean the world to them. I know it's scary, but you just have to give yourself a chance."

"Alright," he finally said with a small chuckle, "you drive a hard bargain Wonder Woman. Fine. I won't move in, yet, but I will stick around to help you with them. And you, Tai," he said turning and pointing to the blond man, "I expect nothing less than your all in getting clean."

"I promise," Tai said.

"Well, we'll see how much a promise is worth."

"If we're all set here, I'll go get the girls," Aqua said. "We have a lot to talk about." Aqua got up from her seat, and walked out the door to the waiting room, where Cinder was sitting with Yang and Ruby, the latter girl in Cinder's lap while Cinder pat her back soothingly, trying to keep her calm. "Girls," she called, "He's awake." Yang and Ruby shot to their feet and ran towards his room, blowing straight past Aqua and leaving Cinder behind. Aqua smiled at the sisters before looking at Cinder approvingly. Her caring behavior towards Ruby made the next part much easier.

"What?" Cinder asked. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I saw how you were comforting Ruby. Good job." Cinder blushed.

"Of course. What else would I do?"

"So, Tai and I have reached an agreement."

"What agreement?"

"How would you feel if I told you that you and I were moving into their house?"

**So, I feel it best to explain myself before I'm accused of character bashing. I'm not saying anything against Tai as a character, as I like his canon version a lot. But, what I wanted to do here was give a somewhat realistic portrayal of what fighting alcoholism is like, with the heartbreak, the loss of trust, and near-death experiences, and of course, the relapses. I mentioned briefly last chapter that Ruby's kidnapping caused a relapse, which came to a head here when he gave himself alcohol poisoning. Another reason why I did this was because I needed an excuse for Aqua to take over raising the girls. My goal with this story is to have a Ruby and Yang that was raised by Aqua as a genuine mother figure for them, so I needed something to happen to Tai that would stop him from raising them himself. It took me a while to decide on the particulars, but I eventually settled on him getting alcohol poisoning and completely losing his confidence.**

**This also lets me demonstrate the unintended negative consequences of Aqua's appearance on Remnant. While Ruby will likely end up much stronger and of course have the benefits of growing up with a female role model, there are some unintended consequences. I've always imagined that canon Tai had a drinking problem after Summer's death, but Yang and Ruby almost dying got him to get his act together. However, with Aqua here and Ruby getting a Keyblade, Tai now had the added stressful situation of his ex-wife coming back after 7 years for the sole purpose of kidnapping his daughter, which triggered a relapse. So, while Ruby and Yang might be better off with Aqua in their lives, it adds extra problems for Tai.**

**Again, sorry for the delay. I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. I'll see you all next time.**


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: I am absolutely loving Volume 7 so far. I my honest opinion, I think this is the best season so far. There's just one episode left and I can't wait. Just a little warning to people that haven't seen it yet. If you're holding off on watching it because you've heard bad things about it, I implore you to give it a shot. Keep an open mind, and you just might enjoy it. I was iffy on RWBY after Volume 6, and Volume 7 completely restored my faith.**

**To the guest reviewer that asked about me doing a story where an older Ruby goes to another fandom and becomes a mother figure to a character that didn't have one, I probably won't do one like that specifically. Sorry if I dissapointed you.**

**To others reading my story, I would prefer that people leaving reviews make an account. If you review as a guest, I can't respond in a private message. It bums me out when I can't answer you. I like talking to you guys. **

**I'm also pleased that people responded so well to the incident from last chapter. Thanks guys.**

**Anyway, on to the chapter.**

Chapter 9

Aqua flopped exhaustedly onto the couch in the living room, her energy completely drained. Ruby and Yang had been tucked in for the night, and Aqua had planned to watch T.V. with Qrow and Cinder, but she wasn't sure she could even lift her face up off the cushion long enough to look at the television.

"Are you okay?" Cinder asked the blue-haired Master. Aqua simply grunted into the couch cushion her face was currently buried in.

"That bad, huh?" Qrow asked, causing Aqua to let out a long muffled groan. She knew she had agreed to be the sisters' caretaker while Tai got cleaned up, but evidently she wasn't as prepared as she thought she was. She also didn't know exactly what getting clean actually meant. She knew it would take work, but she at least expected that Tai would be able to stay while he did it. So imagine her surprise when, two weeks ago, he left to go to an inpatient rehabilitation clinic in Vale, leaving her mostly alone to take care of Ruby, Yang, and Cinder, with Qrow stopping by to help whenever he could. She had never been more tired in all her life. Granted, even if she knew all of this ahead of time, she still would have agreed, she just would have thought a little bit more carefully, first.

She and her bleeding heart.

Tai's stay would last for 2 months, and he had only been there for two weeks, so she knew she had to do this for at least another month and a half. But, she saw why him leaving was necessary. It had been a few months since his alcohol poisoning incident, and once they had managed to calm the sisters down when they stormed his hospital room and jumped into his arms just to make sure he wasn't going to die, he had promised to all of them that he would get clean. He had tried at home, and had done a good job for a while, but then he relapsed again a month ago. It was nowhere near as bad, as that one didn't require him to go to the hospital, but it left him feeling even more worthless. That was when he dropped his idea to go a real rehab clinic, and left, leaving Aqua to deal with his daughters and her obligations to Cinder by herself.

"How do parents do this stuff for years?" She asked, finally forcing her face off the couch so her voice could be heard. "I've been doing it for two weeks and I already want to sleep forever."

"Well then, I think you'll be happy to hear that our little spitfire here did the dishes while you were tucking the girls into bed," Qrow said, gesturing towards Cinder, who was blushing and trying not to meet either of their eyes.

"Really?" Aqua asked, looking at the black-haired girl, who nodded.

"It was no big deal."

"Yes it is!" Aqua said. "Oh, thank you so much, Cinder! I could hug you right now, but I can't move my legs."

"…You're welcome," the girl said, before Aqua set her sights on Qrow.

"And what did you, do, huh, mister?" she asked, and his eyes widened in what Aqua very much hoped was fear. "Did you get any chores done, or were you goofing off while Cinder thought to lighten my load?"

"Hey, I wasn't doing nothing," he said. "I was on an important Scroll call until just before you came downstairs. I was gonna tell you what it was, but you just looked so exhausted that I got distracted."

"Oh, really?" she asked skeptically. "And what call could possibly be so important?"

"I was talking to Lionheart." Lionheart. Wasn't he the Headmaster of Haven Academy? She felt like she knew why he was important, but she just couldn't remember why. The dark-haired man looked over at Cinder. "He was finally able to get in touch with your family."

"Really?" the girl asked, her eyes taking on a hopeful glisten.

"Yup," he said with a smile. "He said your step-mom is on her way to come pick you up."

"Thank you!" she yelled, taking a page from Ruby's book and tackling the older Huntsman in a hug. Aqua could see a few tears starting to form on the girl's face, and smiled at the scene. Qrow, however, looked around sheepishly, never expecting the black-haired girl to be quite this affectionate.

"I'd said we'd look, and I keep my word."

"So, when is she coming?" Aqua asked, unbelievably happy that Cinder would finally be reunited with her family. Although, it was odd that it took _this_ long. After month 4 of no word on that front, she had braced herself for the distinct possibility that the girl's parents were dead, but since they were found now, she couldn't help but wonder exactly what took so long. Surely, with the resources of a Huntsman Academy, it would take less time than 6 months to find two people, especially since her parents had most likely also gotten in touch with local authorities to help locate her. However, Cinder's clear jubilation at the news caused her to put it out of her mind and just focus on being happy for her young soon-to-be-former ward, who was hugging Qrow even tighter as tears of happiness flowed freely down her cheeks.

"November 1," he said, answering her question.

"Oh, that's only a few days from now," Aqua observed. It was currently the end of October, which meant that at the end of the month was Ruby's birthday, and the day after, Cinder would be returned ho—

Wait. Ruby's birthday was in a few days. Crap. She buried her face in the cushions again, and let out another pained groan, causing Cinder to stop crying and both of them to look at her in confusion.

"What's wrong now?" Qrow asked. Aqua said something, if the long series of grunts was anything to go by, but neither he nor Cinder could make anything of it out. "Didn't quite catch that," he said, causing Cinder to giggle. Aqua lifted up her head from the cushion so they could hear her more clearly.

"I said, 'I just remembered Ruby's birthday is in a few days'. I'm so not prepared for this."

"Is it really that big of a deal?" Qrow asked, causing both Cinder and Aqua to give him a deadpan look. "What?"

"You've clearly never been a little girl turning six," Aqua said.

"Every kid's birthday at that age is exciting," Cinder further explained.

"Oh," Qrow said sheepishly.

"She's been through so much lately, so I want to make this something special for her. Especially since Cinder will be leaving the next day. But I don't know if I can."

"That's what we're here for," Qrow said with a smile.

"We can help throw her a party," Cinder agreed. Aqua smiled at the two of them.

"You guys are the best," she said, causing Cinder to blush again and Qrow to smile back at her, giving Aqua her own blush.

"I've already been thinking about what I can get for her," Cinder said. "I think she'll like what I've got in mind."

"That's great." Aqua couldn't help the huge smile that adorned her face.

"Just leave it to us," Qrow assured her. "I've got my own little gift in mind for her."

"I don't know what I'd do without you guys," Aqua said. "I'll give Tai a call tomorrow to see if he'd be able to come home for the party."

"Sounds good," Qrow said. "Do you have a gift in mind?"

"Yeah, I do." She had two in mind, actually. All she needed for one of them was some glass.

* * *

"What do you mean, you can't make it?" Aqua asked into her scroll. She had called Tai almost as soon as she woke up the next day to ask if he would be able to come up from Vale for Ruby's birthday, but he had just told her he couldn't.

"I'm sorry," Tai said through the screen of the scroll. "I asked them, and they told me I couldn't."

"Why not?" Qrow asked. He was standing next to Aqua, also taking part in the scroll call. Tai rubbed the back of his head nervously at Qrow's question.

"They said there was too much of a risk of a relapse if I leave now," he explained. "So they told me I couldn't leave."

"But it's your daughter's birthday," Aqua protested.

"That's what I told them."

"They can't hold you there against your will, can they?" Qrow asked. Tai shook his head.

"Only if they think I'm in danger of hurting myself or others, which I'm not."

"Then they can't force you to stay," Aqua said.

"Except they gave me an ultimatum. If I leave against their advice, then they consider me to have abandoned the program. If I want back in, the 2 months restarts and I have to pay for it all over again. I can't afford that, so I have no other option than to not come home."

"Damn it," Qrow sighed.

"I'm so sorry, Tai," Aqua said sadly.

"It's not your fault," he reassured her. "Don't blame yourself. The only thing I ask is that I can call her for her birthday."

"Of course," Aqua said with a smile. "Even if you can't be there, I'm sure just getting to talk to you will mean the world to her."

"Thanks," he said. "There's one more thing. There's a present I want you to give to her from me."

"What is it?"

"It's in my bedroom closet. It's something Summer wanted her to have."

* * *

Ruby was sitting at the kitchen table, happily eating her breakfast. What was she having for breakfast, you might ask? Well, since it was her birthday, she got to have cookies.

Aqua really was the best.

Granted, her cookies weren't quite as good as Mommy's, but no cookies were _that_ good.

"So, how do you like your incredibly unhealthy breakfast?" Aqua asked her. So far, they were the only two awake. They were still wearing their pajamas, Ruby in a red onesie, and Aqua wearing a blue tank top and short white shorts.

"It was really good," Ruby said with a huge smile on her face. "Thanks, Aqua."

"You're very welcome," Aqua said, giving Ruby a kiss on the top of her head. "Happy birthday, sweetie."

"Thanks!" The two of them heard footsteps come down the stairs, and looked over to see Cinder step into the kitchen, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and yawning.

"Good morning, Cinder," Aqua said.

"Morning, Aqua," Cinder said. She walked up to Ruby and gave her a quick hug. "Good morning, birthday girl."

"Morning," Ruby said happily. "I got to have cookies for breakfast!"

"Really?" Cinder asked, putting her hand to her chest in shock. "I'm so jealous." Aqua smiled at the two of them.

"I'm about to make some bacon and eggs for us not celebrating a birthday today," Aqua informed them, grabbing a pan from the cupboard. "Do you want some, too, Ruby?"

"Yes, please," the girl said, happily munching on another cookie. After a few minutes, a wonderful crackling sound started to emerge from the pan, and the whole house smelled delicious. Almost as if on cue, right at that moment, they heard another set of footsteps, and Yang emerged from upstairs, her eyes still half-closed and her hair a mess.

"I smell food," she said sleepily, stepping into the kitchen.

"Morning, sleepyhead," Aqua greeted.

"Morning." She walked over to the table, and, just like Cinder, wrapped Ruby up into a hug, only hers was much tighter. "Happy birthday, sis."

"Thanks, Yang," the younger girl giggled, as Yang took her seat at the table to wait for breakfast. After a few minutes, all four of them were happily eating their bacon and eggs, Ruby feeling particularly excited. It wasn't everyday you turned six, after all.

* * *

An hour later, the three girls and Aqua had finished breakfast and gotten dressed when they heard a knock on the front door. Aqua opened it up to reveal Qrow, as usual, causing the blue-haired woman to smile. Aqua had really come to value Qrow's company in the months since her arrival on Remnant. He was a great help to her with the girls, he was a strong training partner, he was funny, charming, handsome, with those alluring red eyes, and his cute stubble, and the lean build she could see through his dress shirt—

_Whoa_, she thought, finally noticing the heat rising in her body. _Where in all of the worlds did _that_ come from?_ Her current inner crisis, however, just left her standing in the doorway, awkwardly staring at the handsome Huntsman, his eyes seeming to stare directly into her soul. _NO! BAD!_

"Hey, Qrow," she was finally able to squeak out, her face as red as his cape. "Come on in."

"You okay there?" he asked with one eyebrow raised. "You're looking a little red."

"Am I red?" she said quickly. "Maybe it's hot. I feel hot, do you feel hot? Heheheheh." She internally facepalmed at the stuttering mess she had suddenly turned into. What was wrong with her?

"It's October," he said in confusion. "How are you hot? I'm not hot."

_I'd beg to differ_, her treacherous mind said before she could stop it, causing her to let out a small, uncharacteristic "eep".

"Anyway, just come in," she said, finally getting out of his way and allowing him to enter the house. She found her herself placing a hand on her stomach, trying to calm the weird feeling. Aqua looked at the three girls sitting in the living room watching T.V. The three of them had turned to look at them.

Why was Cinder looking at her like that?

_Don't judge me_, Aqua thought at the black-haired girl.

"Hi, Uncle Qrow!" the sisters greeted him happily.

"Hey girls," he said. "Happy birthday, kiddo."

"Thanks," Ruby said, beaming at her uncle.

"Hey, Yang, Cinder," Aqua called out, "can you come into the kitchen for a minute?" The two girls got up, and walked into the kitchen with Aqua and Qrow. "So, everybody knows the plan?" She whispered.

"Yup," Qrow whispered back. "I've got all the decorations good to go."

"Presents are all wrapped," Yang whispered.

"And I've got the cake," Cinder also whispered.

"It's all on you now to get her out of the house for a little bit," Qrow said.

"All right. Operation: Best Birthday Ever starts now," Aqua said, breaking off from the group and walking up to Ruby, who was still watching T.V. "Alright, Ruby," Aqua said, getting the young girl's attention, "Let's go outside. It's time for your training."

"Aw," Ruby pouted. "But it's my birthday. Can't we skip it today?" Aqua looked at her with a sly smile on her face.

"You're right," she said. "I was going to teach you some magic today," she had to whisper the word "magic" so Cinder wouldn't hear her, "but since it's your birthday, I suppose we can skip it." Ruby was out the door before Aqua had even finished talking. "Too easy," she said once the now-6-year-old was gone. She walked back to the kitchen. "I leave the rest to you," she said, giving them a wave before following her student out the door.

* * *

By the time Aqua made it outside, Ruby already had her Keyblade in her hand and was waiting eagerly for her teacher. If Aqua looked closely, it almost looked as though the girl was vibrating. Aqua smiled as she approached her.

"So what am I gonna learn?" Ruby asked excitedly. "Am I gonna shoot fireballs? Am I gonna freeze things? Huh?"

"Slow down, there," Aqua said with a laugh. "You'll get to shooting fireballs eventually. First, we have to go over the basics of how magic actually works."

"OK," Ruby said with disappointment, dismissing her Keyblade. "What do I do?"

"The power of magic originates from your mind and your heart working together," she said, one hand pointing to Ruby's chest, and the other pointing at her head. "It's actually pretty simple once you get the hang of it. The Keyblade provides you with the raw energy needed to use magic, and your mind shapes it to turn it into whatever spell you want to cast." Ruby looked at her intently, soaking up everything she could from Aqua's lecture. "Drawing on the energy to use magic is actually similar to calling out to your Keyblade. Reach out with your heart and imagine pulling power towards yourself." Aqua stood back, summoning her Keyblade to her hand. She demonstrated the concept to the girl, imagining that she was pulling energy out from her Keyblade and into her body. As a consequence, her Keyblade began to glow a bright blue. "Like this," she said to her awe-struck pupil. "Try it."

Ruby closed her eyes hard, clearly concentrating on doing what Aqua instructed. After a few seconds, her Keyblade appeared in her hand in a burst of flower petals, and started glowing a bright red.

"You got it," Aqua said, a little surprised at how quickly Ruby grasped the concept.

"Yes!" Ruby cheered, breaking her concentration and causing the glow to disappear.

"Great job. Now we're going to move on to turning it into a spell." She took several steps away from Ruby. She activated the blue glyph of her Semblance and summoned a copy of Goofy, which stood up, shield at the ready. "So, I want you to draw power the same way you just did, point your Keyblade at Goofy here, and use your mind to shape the magic into an attack. It doesn't have to be anything too complicated, just whatever feels natural to you. Got it?" Ruby nodded. "Begin."

Ruby drew on her power again, causing her Keyblade to regain its red glow. She pointed it at the copy of Goofy. Aqua expected that she would use a basic Fire spell, or perhaps Blizzard, so she wasn't expecting the word that came out of her student's mouth.

"Petal!" Ruby yelled, and a small stream of rose petals flew out of the tip of her Keyblade and towards the summon, impacting on its shield. Instead of a single impact, the petals continuously beat against the shield until "Goofy's" guard was broken and the copy shattered. Aqua could only stare open-mouthed.

"THAT WAS SO COOL!" Ruby shouted, jumping up and down. "Did you see that Aqua? Did you?"

"Yeah," Aqua responded, still shocked. "I saw that." Creating your own spells was something that Keybearers typically learned later, after grasping the fundamentals of the basic elemental spells: Fire, Blizzard, Thunder, Aero, Gravity, and Cure. This exercise that she just had Ruby do was designed to discover which element she was naturally inclined to use, and she came out with a spell Aqua had never even heard of before. Was she just incredibly naturally-gifted with magic, or did she simply discover a new element? What would it be called, "flower"? She realized that Ruby was still looking at her expectantly.

"Really good job, Ruby." The girl looked ecstatic at the praise. "I've actually never seen a spell like that before. How'd you do that?"

"I don't know," the girl said. "I just did what you said. That was the first thing that came to mind. Was it cool?"

"Yes, yes it was." She looked at the spot the Goofy copy once occupied. "Can you do it again?"

"I think so," she said, nodding in determination. Aqua summoned another Goofy copy, holding its shield up at the ready. Ruby held her Keyblade up and pointed it at the construct like last time.

"Petal!" she shouted, and a stream of rose petals flew out of the tip of her Keyblade and swept away the Goofy copy.

"Good," Aqua said, summoning another copy. "One more time." Ruby pointed her Keyblade at the construct again, but instead of calling out her spell name, she gripped her head and groaned in discomfort. "You okay?" Aqua asked, dismissing the Goofy clone.

"I think I'm fine," Ruby said. "What happened?"

"You ran out of juice," Aqua said. "Your mind can only handle so much before it stops. When that happens, you can't use magic anymore until your mind recovers. If you try to use magic, you'll only give yourself a headache. You need to keep that in mind. Magic is a powerful weapon, but you can't use it forever."

"But I only got to use it twice," Ruby whined.

"You'll get to use it more as you keep practicing. Keep your chin up."

"OK," Ruby said, a little happier. This presented Aqua with a little problem, however. She hadn't expected Ruby to grasp magic this quickly, so there was absolutely no way the rest of the family finished getting Ruby's party ready. She needed to do something else to keep Ruby out of the house a little longer.

"Since you got the hang of this so easily, you deserve a little reward," Aqua said, causing the girl's eyes to light up in anticipation. "Let's go get some ice cream."

"Yay!" Ruby yelled in sheer happiness.

* * *

Aqua opened up the front door of the house to sheer darkness and silence. They had just come back from getting ice cream, and the Keyblade Master hoped that it gave Qrow, Yang, and Cinder time to get the party ready. The silence in the house seemed to indicate that they got it done. She had to hold back her smile so Ruby wouldn't notice it.

"Where is everyone?" Ruby asked as they walked into the dark, quiet house.

"I don't know," Aqua lied. "Let's look for them." They took only a few steps into the living room when the lights were suddenly turned on, revealing Qrow, Cinder and Yang with huge smiles on their faces.

"Surprise!" the three plus Aqua yelled. "Happy birthday, Ruby!" Now that the lights were on, they could see that the living room had been decorated. There was a banner over the doorway that carried that same message in bright, colorful letters. There were "Happy Birthday" balloons attached to the furniture, and Aqua could see a small pile of presents all wrapped up on the kitchen table, and there was a delightful smell all throughout the house, no doubt from a freshly-baked cake.

Ruby's only response to her family surprising her was to latch on to the closest person, which happened to be Aqua. The 6-year-old wrapped her arms around her teacher's leg in a tight hug. The rest of her family approached the two of them and pulled Ruby into a large group hug. Aqua didn't think she'd ever seen a smile that big on the girl's face before.

* * *

"Thanks, Yang!" Ruby said happily, hugging her older sister, new book in her hand. "I love it!" The birthday girl had started opening her presents, Yang's being the first one she decided to open. Her sister had gotten her a new book full of fairy tales.

"You're welcome, sis," Yang said. "Glad you like it." The youngest girl looked over at Cinder.

"Would you read it to me tonight?" she asked the black-haired girl, shocking the rest of her family members.

"Really?" Cinder asked in disbelief, while Yang looked a little hurt by Ruby's request. "Doesn't Yang usually read to you?"

"Yeah, but you're leaving tomorrow," Ruby said. "I want you to read to me this time. You haven't done it before." Cinder looked around nervously, eventually settling on Aqua and Qrow, who were sitting next to each other.

"That's a real honor there, Spitfire," Qrow said. "Ruby doesn't let just anyone read to her at night." Aqua thought it was sweet that he was encouraging her.

"Okay then," Cinder said, looking at Ruby with a smile. "I'll read the new book to you tonight."

"Yay!" Ruby yelled, giving Cinder a hug. "Thanks, Cindy!"

"Why don't you open Cinder's present next, Ruby?" Aqua suggested, handing Ruby a small, rectangular wrapped present. Ruby greedily ripped the wrapping paper open to reveal another book, but this one was not like the one Ruby got from Yang. This one looked homemade, with a plain white front made out of construction paper, with the words "For Ruby, From Cinder" written in red. Ruby flipped the book open, revealing that the all of the pages were hand-drawn pictures. The younger girl looked at the pages in awe.

"Did you draw all of those?" Aqua asked Cinder while Ruby flipped through the book.

"Yeah, I did," Cinder said with a small blush. "Since she liked coloring in the pictures I drew a few months ago, I figured I could make her a coloring book."

"Oh, that's so sweet," Aqua said, almost unable to contain it.

"Thanks so much, Cinder!" Ruby said, hugging the older girl. "I love it!"

"You're welcome," Cinder said, hugging the girl back.

"Alright, mine next," Qrow said, handing Ruby a black jewelry box. Aqua was at a complete loss for what Qrow's gift could be. Ruby opened up the box, and the rest of the room was stunned into silence.

Inside the box was a large metal pin in the shape of a blooming rose. It was the same emblem as the end of the Keychain on Ruby's Keyblade, and the "teeth" of her weapon. It was made out of gray sheet metal, and the design was etched in black. It was absolutely gorgeous. Ruby was speechless, just staring at the pin with wide eyes, her sister and Cinder fawning over the beautiful piece of metal.

"Where'd you get that from?" Aqua asked the older Huntsman.

"I went to a Blacksmith in town," Qrow answered. "I used the designs on her Keyblade for the pin. I'm glad he did a good job."

"He really did. What do you think, Ruby?"

"It's so beautiful," she said, still staring at it. "Thanks, Uncle Qrow."

"What, no hug?" he asked, snapping the girl out of her stupor so she could get up and wrap her uncle in a hug.

"Thank you, Uncle Qrow," she said.

"You're welcome, kiddo."

"Love you," Ruby said, breaking the hug to sit back down in her chair.

"Love you too."

"So, Ruby," Aqua said, "How's your birthday going?"

"It's great!" she said. "I just wish Daddy could have been here." Her happy mood began to disappear at the thought.

"I know, sweetie," she said, trying to hold back her smile, since the girl didn't know about the arrangement she made with Tai.

"It sucks that they didn't let him leave," Cinder said.

"Yeah, those meanies," Yang agreed.

"Well, they aren't completely terrible people," Aqua said. "After all, they let him call."

"Really?" Ruby asked, the light returning to her eyes.

"Yup," Aqua said with a smile. "I talked to him a few days ago, and we're going to call him on the Scroll." Ruby practically squealed in delight.

"Call him, call him, call him!" Ruby yelled quickly.

"All right, all right," Aqua said with a laugh, pulling out her Scroll. She opened up her contacts, and easily found Tai's name. The only two contacts in her Scroll were him and Qrow, after all. She pressed the icon for Tai's contact, and while it was ringing, she decided to just hand the whole device to Ruby, Yang quickly getting next to her so they can both see the screen. After a few seconds, they saw the blond locks of their father appear on the screen.

"Hey, Aqua," he said, expecting the Keyblade Master to be holding the scroll.

"DADDY!" Ruby yelled excitedly.

"Hey, Dad!" Yang said just as happily.

"Hey, girls," he said back to them, and Aqua could practically hear the smile on his face more than she saw it. "Happy birthday, honey."

"Thanks," Ruby said with a smile on her face.

"So, how's your birthday been so far?"

"It's perfect," she said, and Aqua's heart soared that calling her father made her birthday that much better. No doubt he was happy to hear it as well.

"That's awesome," he said happily. "What kind of presents did you get?"

"Yang gave me a book of fairy tales and Cinder drew me a coloring book."

"That's amazing," Tai said, causing the older girl to blush.

"Yeah, it is," Ruby said, smiling at Cinder. "Oh, and Uncle Qrow got me something, too." She picked up the box that Qrow gave her, and opened it up to show the pin to her father. "Here it is."

"Wow," he said. "That is one beautiful pin. And _Qrow _got you that?"

"And what the hell are you so surprised about, huh?" Qrow asked indignantly.

"I'm just surprised that you have taste," he said.

"Jackass," Qrow grumbled.

"Swear!" Ruby called out.

"Sorry," her uncle said automatically.

"I've actually got something for you, too," Tai said from the small device in Ruby's hands.

"Really?!" his youngest daughter asked excitedly.

"Yeah," he said. "Well, technically, it's something Mommy got for you. I just thought now was the right time to give it to you."

"Something from Mommy?" Ruby asked in awe.

"Yeah. Aqua, can you go get it?" he called out to the Keyblade Master from the Scroll.

"On it," Aqua said, getting up and quickly heading upstairs to get the present. She walked into Tai's bedroom and opened up the closet. On the floor of the closet was a white rectangular box wide enough to require both hands to lift. She picked it up and went back downstairs with it. Tai was still talking with everybody, but the conversation stopped when Aqua approached with the box. The girl took the box from Aqua and opened it up, her eyes wide. She opened up the box, and pulled out a long, vibrant red cloak with a hood. Ruby and Yang were stunned speechless as they looked at the beautiful cloth.

"It looks just like Mom's," Yang sad quietly. "Except it's red."

"Mommy got this for me?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah," Tai said through the Scroll. "She made it for you and wanted to give it to you herself. It's a little big for you now, but I thought now would be a good time to give to you. Your mother will always be with you. This is proof." Ruby looked at the gift from her mother, tears forming in her eyes.

"Thank you, Daddy," she said, letting the tears out. "Thank you so much." Yang was quickly there to hug her, tears in her own eyes.

"You're welcome," their father said. "Happy birthday, honey." Tai turned to address someone that spoke to him from outside the view of the Scroll's screen. "I'm so sorry, girls. I've gotta go."

"Aw," Ruby whined, sad. "Do you really have to go?"

"Yes, I'm sorry. I'll make sure to call you again tomorrow. Happy birthday again, Ruby."

"Thanks, Daddy."

"Get better soon, Dad," Yang said.

"I will, honey. I love you both very much."

"Love you too, Daddy," Ruby said.

"Love you too," Followed Yang, and Tai hung up the Scroll call.

"I miss him," Ruby said sadly.

"Me, too, sis," Yang said, still hugging her sister.

"He'll be back before you know it," Cinder said, comforting the two sisters. Aqua smiled sadly at the older girl. While she was happy that Cinder would be reuniting with her family tomorrow, it was still sad to see her go. She cared so much about Ruby and Yang, and she could tell that the sisters really loved her as well. She reached into her back pocket and grabbed hold of the last present of the day.

"Hey, girls," she called, still not taking her hand out of her pocket. "I've got one more gift to give you."

"Really?" Ruby asked, looking excited again, making Aqua's heart soar.

"Actually, this is for all three of you. Come here." The three girls approached her, curious looks on their faces. She smiled at them, and pulled the objects out of her back pocket.

Dangling from chains were three Wayfinders. One was colored red, the color of Ruby's new cloak, one was golden like Yang's hair, and the third was colored amber, like Cinder's eyes. The girls all looked at the objects in surprise as Aqua handed the Wayfinders to them, each girl getting the one corresponding to their color.

"These look just like yours," Yang said, looking at her Wayfinder.

"So pretty," Ruby said.

"How come Yang and I got one, too?" Cinder asked.

"Because you're leaving tomorrow," Aqua explained to a confused trio of young girls. "There's an island somewhere out there with star-shaped fruit. They say that if you make a pendant shaped like that fruit and give it to someone special, it creates an unbreakable connection. No matter what, they'll always find their way back to each other." The girls were looking at their pendants with a newfound sense of admiration. "Cinder is going back to her family tomorrow, but as long as you all keep those with you, you'll all see each other again."

"Wow," Ruby said, entranced by the pendant and the story.

"That's amazing," Yang said.

"Interesting," she heard Qrow mumble under his breath. Cinder, however, said nothing. Aqua saw the oldest girl's shoulders start to shake before she threw herself at the blue-haired Master, throwing her arms around her in a hug, tears in her eyes.

"Thank you," she said into the older woman's shoulder. "I love it so much."

"I'm glad you all like them," Aqua said. "Just keep the faith that you'll see each other and you will."

"I will," Cinder said, her arms still around Aqua.

"We will, too," Yang said, speaking for both herself and her sister.

"I've loved it here," Cinder said. "I almost don't want to go."

"I know," Aqua said as Cinder finally ended the embrace. "But that's tomorrow. For today, we've still got a party to finish."

"Yeah!" Ruby cheered.

* * *

The next day, Aqua, Qrow, Ruby, Yang, and Cinder were waiting on the front porch of the Xiao Long/Rose household. Today was the day that Cinder's stepmom would be coming to pick her up. The girls were fidgeting nervously, not quite ready to say goodbye yet. All three of them were wearing their new Wayfinders on leather straps around their necks. Cinder kept adjusting the straps of her backpack.

"Does Cindy really have to go?" Ruby asked sadly.

"Yes, she does," Aqua said. "She needs to go back to her parents."

"We'll see her again, sis," Yang assured her, holding the Wayfinder around her neck. "That's what these are for."

"Exactly," Cinder said. "Don't be too sad, Ruby."

"Okay," she said with a small sniffle.

"Are you ready to go back?" Qrow asked the oldest girl.

"I think so," Cinder said. "I had such a good time here, but I'm ready to go home."

"We're gonna miss having you around, Spitfire," Qrow said.

"Thanks, Qrow," Cinder said. "I'll miss you, too." She spread out her arms. "Can I get a 'goodbye' hug?" Qrow sighed.

"Just this once," he said, opening his arms and letting the girl embrace him. They hugged for a few seconds, probably longer than Qrow would normally like. After they separated, Cinder immediately went over to the sisters and wrapped them into a hug as well.

"We'll miss you, Cindy," Ruby said sadly.

"I'll miss you, too," Cinder replied.

"Keep in touch," Yang said.

"I promise I will."

"Cinder!" A new voice called out. All five people looked at the source and saw an older woman approaching the house. She was middle aged, had long brown hair and brown eyes, and was wearing a plain white dress. Cinder's eyes widened, tears welling up, and she ran off the front porch towards the new woman and threw her arms around her.

"Anna!" she yelled happily once she got the hug going. Her step-mom looked a little surprised at first, almost as if she wasn't expecting Cinder to actually be happy to see her. After a second, Cinder's step-mom returned the hug.

"I'm glad to see you again," the older woman said. "Have you been treated well?"

"Yup," Cinder replied. "Here, I'll show you the people that took care of me." Cinder grabbed her step-mother's hand and dragged her over to the porch. They stopped in front of the group and Cinder pointed to each person in turn. "That's Qrow, Aqua, Yang and Ruby. They've been taking care of me."

"Thank all of you for looking after my step-daughter here," the woman said. "My name is Anna Fall. It's a pleasure to meet you all."

"The pleasure is all ours," Aqua said, giving Anna a friendly smile. "And it really was no trouble. Cinder was an absolute delight to have with us."

"Yeah," Qrow agreed, gesturing to the to sisters, who were looking a little nervous. "The girls really loved her, too."

"That's good to hear," Anna said, patting Cinder on the head, the girl in question looking a little uncomfortable. Aqua remembered that Qrow told her Cinder didn't really get along with her step-mother, and even the relief of being reunited with her family can't fix the awkwardness of receiving affection from her. That hug earlier was likely just being overwhelmed with emotion. "So, I guess we should be going." And it looked like Anna was feeling awkward, too.

"You sure you don't want to stay the night?" Qrow asked. "It's a long way to Mistral. A good night's sleep will do you some good."

"As kind of an offer as that is, I'll have to decline," Anna said, much to Cinder and the sisters' disappointment. "I would like to get on the road as soon as possible."

"Are you sure?" Aqua asked. "It wouldn't be a bother."

"I'm sure. Let's go, Cinder." Anna turned to walk away, but Cinder stayed put, just looking at Aqua. Anna stopped walking when she realized her step-daughter wasn't following her. "Cinder?" Instead of following her step-mom, Cinder instead ran towards Aqua and threw her arms around the blue-haired Keyblade Master.

"Thank you," Cinder said quietly. "Thank you for everything."

"It's been a pleasure," Aqua said, returning the hug. "Make sure you stay in touch."

"I will," Cinder said. "I promise."

"Next time I'm in Mistral," Qrow said, "I'll make sure to look you up."

"I'm looking forward to it."

"Cinder, are you ready?" Anna asked.

"Yes, I'm ready," Cinder replied, finally following her step-mom. They walked off the porch and made it half-way to the forest trail to town when Ruby and Yang ran up to the railing of the porch.

"Cindy!" they yelled, getting the older girl's attention. They started waving enthusiastically to her. "Goodbye! We'll miss you!"

"Bye, girls!" she yelled, waving back to them. "I'll miss you too!" Ruby and Yang kept waving until Cinder and Anna disappeared from view.

* * *

Cinder and Anna had been walking for a while. The girl was pretty sure they should have reached the town by then, but they hadn't.

"Anna?" Cinder asked, getting her step-mother's attention. "Are we going the right way? We should have reached town by now."

"Don't question me, Cinder," Anna said in that stern tone that Cinder hated so much. "I hate being on this backwater island just as much as you do, but we'll reach our destination soon."

"This island isn't backwater," Cinder tried to protest. She had genuinely enjoyed her time on Patch, if only because she didn't have to be near Anna. Even now, she wasn't looking forward to sharing a space with that woman again, but she was very excited to see her father.

"Don't argue with me, young lady," Anna snapped back, and Cinder decided that it really wasn't worth it to fight this one. Her day was bad enough that she had to leave everyone behind, she wasn't about to make it worse by resisting her own step-mother. They walked in silence for a few minutes before approaching a fork in the road. Interestingly enough, there were two men waiting there. The first one was tall and lanky, with tanned skin, short black hair, and a bushy mustache. He wore a gray suit with a purple vest and a yellow undershirt. The other man was practically a mountain. He was even taller than the other man, and muscular, too. He had short brown hair, with hair along his lower jaw. He wore a black short-sleeved shirt, black pants, and black boots, with a long green overcoat. For some reason, Anna stopped walking as they approached the two men, gesturing for Cinder to stop as well.

"Anna?" she asked.

"Quiet," her step-mother snapped.

"There you are," the man with the mustache said. "You kept us waiting."

"Sorry about that," Anna told him. "She had to say goodbye to the family that kept her."

"Anna, who are these people?" Cinder asked.

"I said to be quiet," Anna said, more angrily this time.

"So this is the young lady we've heard so much about?" the mustached man said, clearly referring to Cinder. His statement caused panic to well up inside of Cinder. What did he mean? "How underwhelming. I have no idea what our Mistress sees in her." What Mistress? What was he talking about? Why was he talking like he knew Anna?

"What's going on?" Cinder asked her step-mom.

"For the last time, you brat, shut up!" Anna snapped once again at Cinder, causing the girl to recoil. Anna turned back to look at the mustached man. "Let's just get this over with."

"Indeed," the man said, while the living mountain looked sadly at Cinder, causing her to be even more confused. "You brought the girl, as per our agreement." Cinder's panic grew. Anna had promised these men that she'd bring her to them? What? Why? She took a fearful step back.

"What?" she asked, but before she could take another step, the mustached man nodded to the living mountain. Before Cinder realized what had happened, the large man had scooped her up with one arm, pinning her against his chest, while his other hand clamped firmly over her mouth. She immediately began to scream and struggle, but his grip was far too strong.

"Oh, knock it off," Anna said in annoyance. "I've finally figured out how to get you out of my hair. I know you hate me, too, so just suck it up."

"I'm sorry," the large man whispered into Cinder's ear, and Cinder almost believed him.

"So, you have the brat, now I never have to see any of you people again?"

"Oh, don't worry," the mustached man said. "You definitely won't see us ever again." Before Anna could react, the mustached man pulled an elaborate-looking revolver out of his coat pocket, aimed it right at her head, and pulled the trigger.

Anna's body fell to the ground instantly, splattering blood on the trees behind her. Cinder attempted to scream in horror, but the large man's hand muffled it. She watched as blood pooled underneath her step-mother's head, and her eyes widened as the mustached man approached her, putting away his gun. His hand was still in his coat pocket, however. Tears started to flow freely from her eyes, as she braced.

He was going to kill her, too, she just knew.

"Was that really necessary, Watts?" the large man holding Cinder asked the man with the mustache, "Watts" evidently.

"You need to do something about that bleeding heart of yours, Hazel," Watts scolded. "It might stop you from doing what is necessary. She was a loose end. If we had let her live, she might have told somebody about us." Hazel simply grumbled. "Now then, if these ridiculous moral crises are over, we still have her to deal with." He took another step forward, causing Cinder to pull herself against Hazel's body as much as she could and whimper in fear.

"Oh, relax, girl," Watts said. "We're not going to kill you." Cinder, of course, did not believe a word of it. Since she couldn't get away from Hazel, and she couldn't speak, she had to settle for sending a pleading look with her eyes through her tears. He pulled a needle out of his coat pocket and approached her, bringing the syringe near her neck. "Our Mistress would like a word with you." She felt a stinging pain in her neck as he inserted the needle.

And then the world went black.

**AN: Well, how's _that_ for an ending to this chapter. We got a mostly light-hearted, fluffy chapter about the family celebrating Ruby's birthday, and then _wham!_ For those of you wondering if Cinder would still end up with Salem's people, here's your answer. I knew from the second I decided to add Cinder to this story that this is where it was headed, so my job in the meantime was to make you guys care about her, and establish a relationship between Cinder and Ruby and Yang's family. She's joining Salem, it's just not necessarily by choice. **

**In regards to Ruby's magic, the spell that she used was called "Petal". It launches a wave of razor-sharp rose petals. Think Byakuya's Bankai from Bleach.**

**In the future, Ruby will have a whole repertoire of rose-based spells at her disposal. The reason why I decided to do that is because I realized that Ruby would have to keep her magic a secret, so there wouldn't be much point in her being Keyblade wielder if she can't use magic. If she has spells with a rose motif, it lets her use magic that she can pass off as part of her Semblance. **

**So, next I'm going to write the two chapters of my RWBY/Bleach fanfiction before coming back. **

**Hope you guys enjoyed, and thank you all for reading. I'll see you guys next time.**

* * *

**Edit: So, how about that Volume 7 finale, huh? I was correct. This was the best season of RWBY so far. I just have one thing to say without spoiling anything.**

**Fuck Winter.**

**Seriously, fuck Winter.**

**Out of all of the stuff that happened in this Season, I think she's the one character that pissed me off the most.**

**Anyway, on to the purpose of this edit. I have decided to put my Bleach/RWBY crossover, "The Dragon, the Cat, the Champion, and the Soul Reaper", up for adoption. To make a long story short, my heart wasn't in it anymore, and I didn't want to continue writing a story that I was increasingly become more and more unsatisfied with.**

**What that means for this story is simply that I will no longer be dividing my time between two stories, so chapters for this story will come out on a more regular basis. I am currently hard at work on Chapter 10, so look forward to that a little sooner than you were expecting.**

**There was also something else that I never made clear in regards to the direction of this story. The next chapter will be the last chapter of the "childhood arc". Starting with Chapter 11, we're jumping into the events of Volume 1. I gotta say, I'm excited to implement some new ideas. Plus, I can finally stop making my chapters diabetes-inducing like they have been for the last 4 chapters or so.**

**Ah, child Ruby. You're adorable, and a pain to write.**

**Oh God, that reminds of how much I'm dreading when I have to start writing Nora. **

**Anyway, that's all for now. If anybody's interested in picking up the Bleach story, send me a Private Message and we'll work something out. **

**As always, thanks for reading, and I'll see you all next time.**


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: Just in case you guys didn't see the update to the last chapter's end Author's Note, I will repeat the big announcement here. I decided to put my Bleach/RWBY Fanfiction up for adoption. This story is now my only focus. That being said, this chapter is shorter than others, mainly because it is the finally chapter of the "Childhood Arc". Next chapter, we're moving on to Volume 1. This is more of a transition chapter to finish establishing all of the relationships going into the events of canon, which will have things changed around because of what happened in this first arc.**

**At the end of the chapter, I will go into my overall thoughts about Volume 7.**

**Enjoy the chapter!**

Chapter 10

The warm glow of the morning light gently woke Aqua from her slumber. She felt the soft sheets against her bare skin, and felt a distinct warmth against her back. She quickly took note of the arm draped over her stomach. Heat instantly filled up her cheeks, and she slowly turned around to look at her partner. She saw a bare chest, covered in chiseled muscle that couldn't ordinarily be seen under his shirt, and she could only assume that he was just as nude as she was under the sheet. She looked higher on the man's body to look at his face. She saw the black hair, but couldn't see his red eyes since he was still sleeping.

She had never seen Qrow look so peaceful.

She could definitely say it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

She gently leaned forward to place her lips against his, giving him a quick chaste kiss, being careful not to wake him. She snuggled up closer to him, burying her face in the base of his neck. To her delight, the arm wrapped around her instinctively pulled her tighter against his body.

She couldn't help but think back on what led her to this blissful moment as she let sleep take her again.

* * *

_Yesterday…_

Okay, something was definitely up. Everybody had been acting weird all day. Ever since she went downstairs that day, Ruby and Yang kept giving her weird looks and looking at each other excitedly. If she was being honest, it was making her a little anxious. Tai was no better.

Their father had come back from what was at least considered a successful stint in rehab, whatever constituted that. He was doing well so far at staying clean, but he hadn't even begun to get any of his confidence back. As long as he couldn't do his job as a father, Aqua was going to be there to pick up the slack. At least he wasn't drinking anymore.

Baby steps, she supposed.

Tai seemed oddly happy, which she figured was nice, but that combined with how constantly excited Ruby and Yang were, and she couldn't help but be suspicious. Just what were they so excited about? And why did they keep looking at her? And why did Tai keep smirking like that? It was enough to drive her insane.

All the odd attention was making it a little hard to watch T.V. with the girls, but she was granted a welcome reprieve when there was a knock on the door.

"I'll get it!" she called out, practically flying out of her seat and running towards the door. She let out a sigh of relief before opening the door.

And then she felt her heart skip a beat.

She wasn't sure why she wasn't expecting it, since he was the only one that ever seemed to visit, but standing on the front porch with a smile that practically made Aqua melt was Qrow.

"Hey, there," he said, and Aqua felt a flood of emotions that were starting to become all-too-familiar to her as she returned his greeting and let him in. She felt excitement, happiness, and nervousness all at once. The feelings served as a wonderful and yet frightening reminder of reality.

She wasn't sure when it happened, and she wasn't entirely sure how it happened, but it had now been made abundantly clear.

She was in love with Qrow Branwen.

What started as respect and appreciation for everything he did for his family and her personally had had evolved into admiration, a need to spend time with him, and now, there was no denying she was in love. Could anybody really blame her? He was surprisingly sweet, had nothing but respect for her, and was great with kids. Him overcoming his fear of his Semblance to help her raise the girls was really just the first indicator of how amazing he really was.

And _damn_ was he sexy.

A year ago, even a few months ago, she would likely bury her head in the ground in shame for ever admitting to even herself that she thought about him that way. But the heart wants what the heart wants. There was just one snag.

She hadn't told him yet.

She wasn't a fool. Not telling Terra was the biggest regret of her life, and she was putting herself in a similar situation. She was in love and didn't tell him. She knew that was a huge mistake, but at the same time, she had no idea how to broach the topic with him.

She couldn't just walk up to him and say "I love you", could she? She doubted it.

After Aqua and Qrow walked into the house, he and Tai sent knowing smirks at each other, which restarted Aqua's suspicions, before he walked into the kitchen, Ruby and Yang getting up to join them.

Seriously, what was going on?

After only a few minutes, Ruby and Yang came rushing out, each grabbing one of Aqua's hands.

"Aqua!" Ruby yelled excitedly. "Let's go start our training!"

"Yeah!" Yang yelled, "Let's go!" The enthusiasm the girls showed would normally delight her, but with how weird everyone was acting today, she immediately saw what they were doing. They were trying to get her outside the house for some reason. She couldn't fathom why, though. And so it was with confusion that she let the girls drag her outside, Qrow following suit. As odd as this whole day had been so far, she already had something in mind to teach Ruby, so it wasn't too big of a deal.

If only she could figure out what was going on…

* * *

Aqua blocked an attack from Ruby's Keyblade with her own. The sparring had been ramped up recently, and she was very pleased by the 7-year-old's progress. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Qrow and Yang doing some sparring of their own. They were both unarmed, with Yang throwing her little fists wildly at her uncle. Obviously, she wasn't hitting Qrow, as he was far too good for that, so he was mostly just pointing out what she was doing wrong, with the 9-year-old blonde not really listening.

After Tai came back from rehab, Aqua decided that it was time the whole family knew the truth. So she told them everything. About the Keyblade, about other worlds, and about Ruby's destiny to bring Remnant into the Realm of Light. In order to do that, she had to venture across Remnant and find the Keyhole, the doorway to the world's Heart. If she could seal it with the Keyblade, Aqua figured that would do the trick. Ruby, predictably, had been ecstatic at the prospect of a world-spanning adventure. That was when Yang asked if she could be trained, too. When Aqua asked why, she told them that if Ruby had to travel Remnant on this dangerous quest, she wanted to support her every step of the way.

Aqua was so proud.

So, Qrow and Aqua had both decided to train the two of them up.

Before long, Aqua was staring at Qrow. She didn't notice it until Ruby bopped her on the head with her Keyblade.

"Gotcha!" she yelled triumphantly, as Aqua rubbed the bump on her head. The girl giggled when Aqua sent an indignant glare her way.

It wasn't her fault. She got distracted. Stupid Qrow. She signed internally at her own excuses. She got distracted. Plain and simple.

"Good job," Aqua praised her student, who was feeling awfully proud of herself for actually landing a hit on her teacher. "All right, now that the warm-up is over," Ruby's eyes widened in fear at the prospect of more training, "I've got something new to teach you." Ruby's apprehension was replaced with excitement.

"Really? What?"

"Since we were attacking each other, I can teach you how to Style Change."

"Ooooooooh," Ruby said. "What's that?"

"Here, I'll show you," Aqua said, and surrounded herself with a bright light. Energy exploded out from her body, covering herself in a blue glow different from her Aura. Impressively, her Keyblade was floating an inch away from her hand.

"Oh! I saw that before!" Ruby yelled happily.

"Yes, you did," Aqua nodded. "I used this to fight that Heartless in Raven's camp a few years back. This is a Style Change. This one is called Spellweaver. As you attack enemies, the energy you create is stored in the Keyblade, and you can release it to change your fighting style and abilities during battle. Which Style depends on what attacks you use. This one is the most basic, since all I have to is whack things with my Keyblade."

"So cool," Ruby drawled. "I wanna try! How do I do that?!"

"Reach out and feel your Keyblade. After our spar, it should have absorbed plenty of energy. It should feel like a balloon that's ready to burst."

"Okay," Ruby said.

"Now just release it." She saw Ruby concentrate her attention on her Keyblade, clearly trying to draw her attention on her weapon. Aqua expected to see the usual explosion of energy that came with a Style Change. What happened instead made her jaw drop.

With the sound of grinding metal, the shape of Ruby's Keyblade itself changed. The shaft of the weapon expanded, easily doubling in length, and instead of being shaped like a sword, it turned into a Polearm. The Rose emblem on the end of the weapon unfolded, turning into a scythe blade. When it was done transforming, Ruby was holding a large scythe, colored black and red.

Aqua was speechless. Ruby, on the other hand…

"THIS IS SO COOL!" she screamed, causing Yang and Qrow to stop what they were doing to look at what had the young girl so excited.

"Holy shit," Qrow said.

"What is that?!" Yang yelled, running over to her sister to get a look at the new weapon.

"It's my Keyblade!" Ruby said, displaying it proudly.

"Awesome!" Aqua barely heard Qrow approach her from behind.

"Not expecting that, huh?" he asked her, snapping her out of her shock.

"No, I've never seen the Kayblade do that before," she said.

"So, the student does something the master doesn't even know about. I don't know if that says more about Ruby's natural talent as a Keybearer, or your natural talent as a teacher." Aqua turned to face him, but the smile on his face caused her to avert her eyes from his in embarrassment.

"It's probably her," she said sheepishly.

"Give yourself a little more credit," he said. "Yeah, she's probably a prodigy, but even prodigies need a good teacher. You're pretty incredible, yourself." And just like that, it felt like her face was about to explode from heat. She turned around to face away from him completely, and looked back towards Ruby. She gave an embarrassed cough before speaking.

"Well, then, Ruby, let's, uh, work on using that new form."

* * *

In the end, Qrow taught her more about fighting with a scythe than Aqua could, since his weapon also turned into one, a point he stated with pride. She thought it was kind of funny how excited he got that Ruby could use a similar weapon to him. It was pretty cute, too, how proud he looked.

The four of them were walking up to the front door of the house, the others letting Aqua open it first. She walked into the living room, and was greeted by a homemade banner hung up on the doorway to the kitchen.

"'Aqua Appreciation Day'?" she read aloud from the banner.

"Yup," Tai said, stepping out of the kitchen, which smelled distinctly of baked goods. Ah, so this is why they wanted her out of the house. "The girls came up with it."

"Of course they did," she chuckled. "But why?"

"Today is the two-year anniversary of the day we found you in the woods," Qrow said, surprising Aqua. "They wanted to show you how much they appreciated everything you've done for us since then, and I couldn't disagree." Had it really been two whole years since she arrived on Remnant? If that was the case, then her twentieth birthday came and went and she didn't even realize it.

"It's been two years already?" she asked.

"Yeah, time flies," Qrow said. "Hard to believe."

"Hey, girls," Tai called from the kitchen, "Why don't you give Aqua the thing while I finish up the cake?"

"Alright, Dad," Ruby said, as she and her sister ran upstairs to get something. Ruby had decided after turning 7 that she was too big to call her father "Daddy" anymore, so now he was just "Dad". All three grown-ups missed the old way. This was much less cute.

"You might want to sit down," Qrow said. "What they've got is a bit of a doozy." Aqua gave him a weird look, but sat down on the couch anyway. No sooner had she done that then the sisters came back downstairs holding a paper in their hands. They enthusiastically handed it to Aqua, and she took a look at it, wondering why Qrow told her it was a "doozy". The piece of paper had a drawing of the five of them, with Aqua in the center, and the girls on either side of her, with Tai and Qrow taking up the ends. There were words written above the drawing, and Aqua finally understood.

"_Thank you for everything you do, Mom._"

Aqua's eyes widened, and she read the sentence again just to make sure she saw that correctly.

"_Mom_". She looked up at the girls, who had huge smiles on their faces.

"Mom?" she asked them, just to confirm that this was real. The girls nodded happily. Aqua was speechless. Yang decided to fill the silence.

"You've been taking care of us for two years. You've been everything for us, and we love you."

"So, what do you say?" Ruby asked. "Will you be our mom?" Aqua's only answer was to pull both of them into a hug, tears of happiness streaming down her face.

"Yes," she managed to say. "Yes I will." She kissed each of their foreheads and pulled them tighter. "I love you both so much."

"We love you, too, Mom," Ruby said, and Aqua's heart soared. She couldn't remember the last time she had been this happy. All she could do was sob happily holding her daughters close.

Not her students. Not her wards. Her _daughters_.

* * *

Aqua was sitting at the dinner table, enjoying the meal that Tai had cooked for them, still thinking about earlier. She was a Mom. She had two daughters now. Tai was giving some speech that she was sure was sweet and all about how grateful he was to her, but all she could think about was her new-found motherhood. She did feel bad about not really listening, though. She just had a lot on her mind.

Tai did a surprisingly good job with both dinner and her cake. Granted, it wasn't as good as the one Cinder made for Ruby's birthday, but still.

The thought of Cinder brought Aqua's mood down a little bit. It had been over a year since she left them, and they hadn't heard a single word from her. Aqua was still worrying about her, especially after Qrow took it upon himself a few months ago to head to Mistral and try to find her. When he came back with only an assurance from Lionheart that he'd let them know if he ever got word of what happened to her, they resigned themselves to the worst. Of course, they hadn't told Ruby or Yang yet, but it always tore her up inside when they asked if she had contacted them yet.

She was taken out of her thoughts when Qrow tapped on her shoulder. She turned to look at him, only to realize that their faces were only a few inches apart.

"H-huh?" she elegantly articulated to the handsome man next to her, blush on her cheeks.

"You okay?" he whispered. "You look like something's bothering you." He even noticed that she had something on her mind. How was it possible for one man to be that perfect?

"I was just thinking about Cinder," she whispered sadly. His face drooped in understanding.

"I know you're worried, but all we can do is hope that Leo can find her."

"I know, but I'm just scared."

"Me, too," he said, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Try as she might, she couldn't stop the blush.

* * *

Later that night, after the "Aqua Appreciation Day" Party was over, the woman herself was sitting on the edge of her bed in her pajamas, looking at the drawing that Ruby and Yang made her. Her daughters. That still felt so good to say. She heard on a knock on her bedroom door, and she got up to see who it was, careful to step over her shoes, which she had just kicked off right in front of her bed. She opened up the door to find, you guessed it, Qrow.

Wait, why was he at her bedroom?

"Can I come in?" he asked. Aqua felt her brain stop working as he said that. There was no way this was happening. The man she loved was asking to come into her bedroom? She must be dreaming.

"Uh, sure," she said, stepping aside to let him in. He walked past her to stand in front of the foot of her bed, and she closed the door behind him. She took a few seconds to catch her breath and calm herself down. They were alone now.

Alone in her bedroom.

She had to fight off the flush in her cheeks.

This might be her chance. If she could figure out how to phrase it, she might finally be able to tell him how she felt. She closed her eyes and turned around. She had no idea what she would say, so she was just going to wing it. She opened her eyes, ready to tell him everything.

And the words promptly died in her throat.

Dangling from chains on the ends of each of his index fingers were two Wayfinders. The glass that they were made of were alternating blue and black glass. One Wayfinder had more black than blue, and the other had more blue than black.

"W-Wha-?" She tried to ask, but couldn't find the words.

"'Aqua Appreciation Day' ain't over yet," he said with a smile. "There's still one more person that loves you."

"Love?" she squeaked. He held out the Wayfinder that was mostly blue and gestured for her to take it. She wordlessly walked towards him and reached out for the Wayfinder.

"I remembered what you said about these things," he said. "That if you share them with someone special, it creates an unbreakable connection." She was still speechless as she took the pendant in her hands and inspected it. It was beautiful. It might have even given the ones she had made a run for their money.

Her brain finally caught up to her. Him giving her this pendant meant…

She wasn't sure she ever felt happier. Unfortunately, she was still too stunned to let that show on her face. Qrow kept talking.

"I haven't felt this way about anybody in a long time. Hell, after Summer, I didn't think it was possible. But you proved me wrong." His smile made her heart soar. "You are the most incredible woman I've ever met. You're kind, compassionate, strong as hell, and you've bent over backwards for me and my family. I felt this way before and didn't say anything. I'm not making that mistake again. So, what I'm trying to say is…"

"Yes?" she whispered.

"I love you."

She just had to repeat it to make sure she heard him correctly.

"Y-You love me?"

"Yes, I do. I made these Wayfinders for us to let you know that I want us to—"

She interrupted him by grabbing the color of his shirt and pulling him towards her, sending his lips crashing into hers. After a few seconds for his surprise to wear off, he wrapped his arms around her waist to pull her closer, deepening the kiss. She, in turn, wrapped her arms around his neck to link them behind his head. Eventually, they had to come up for air, breaking the kiss but still holding onto each other.

"Wow," he breathed. "Does this mean…?"

"I love you, too," she whispered. The smile that appeared on his face was probably the biggest she had ever seen. "I've been trying to figure out how to tell you for a while."

"Well, I'd say this got the message across."

"It did." She took a step forward to press her body closer to his, but her feet got tangled up in the shoes that she left on the floor. With a yelp, she fell onto the bed, dragging him down with her. The next thing she knew, she was lying on her back with Qrow on top of her. She looked up at him with half-lidded eyes, and roamed her fingers up towards his shirt. This moment was just too perfect. She reached the top button of his shirt and started to undo it, a hunger in her eyes.

"Are we doing this?" Qrow asked, making sure Aqua was certain about what they were about to do.

"Yes," she said. She paused, reached behind him, and summoned her Keyblade. She pointed it at the bedroom door, and a beam of light shot out from the tip of her weapon, resulting in the door making a click sound. Qrow looked at her in confusion.

"No interruptions," she said in a sultry tone that surprised even herself.

"Yes, ma'am," Qrow said, leaning down into another kiss. She kept unbuttoning his shirt, and then, for at least a little while, the two became one.

**AN: And I've got to stop it right now since this is a T-rated fic. Some of the stuff I have planned honestly might require me to change the rating to M, but I don't want to do that quite yet.**

**So, Aqua's officially a Mom now. Not just in role, but in title as well. We also got a little more training with Ruby and Yang, and Ruby can Form Change instead of Style Change like Sora can. I'm sure most of you saw that coming, though.**

**We also had Aqua and Qrow finally getting together, and boy was it a hell of a way to kick off a relationship. Now, I know some of you are going to say that it felt rushed, so allow me to explain why I had their relationship written like this. For right now, it's more important for me to establish that they are together rather than how they got together. This story is not meant to be a fluffy family story, even though that's what the last few chapters turned into. These first 10 chapters were just to establish the important parts about relationships and what happened to these characters in the past to set up for canon. For those of you who like the fluffier stuff, I will likely include more of this and show more details of Aqua and Qrow's relationship later on as bonus chapters, or omakes, stuff like that, but right now I needed to establish before Volume 1 starts that they are together.**

**So, as I said before, next chapter we will be jumping ahead about 8 years to the beginning of Volume 1. Hope you guys look forward to it, because I am.**

**As always, thanks you guys for reading, and I'll see you next time.**

* * *

**SPOILERS FOR RWBY VOLUME 7 AHEAD!**

* * *

**So, the season ended with Ironwood going off the deep end, the heroes were branded traitors, Team RWBY beat the Ace Ops, Clover was killed, Qrow and Robyn were arrested, Neo stole the lamp from Oscar, Ozpin's back, Penny's the new Winter Maiden, and Salem is about to wreck shit.**

**Overall, this has been the best season of RWBY so far. I had a great time watching this, and unlike the last couple of seasons, I never felt that a single episode was a waste of time. The fights were great, the pacing was just right, and the plot was fantastic. It did a great job of making the situation feel hopeless. However, there is one thing I gotta say.**

**Fuck Winter.**

**I left this season with an absolute hatred for her. She proved that she is a raging hypocrite and that she really is no better than the rest of the Schnees, barring Weiss of course. The fact that she turned on Weiss so easily made me so mad. I actually think she's worse than the Ace Ops were in regards to her loyalty to Ironwood. They were just mindless tools that didn't even question orders, but Winter took the time to acknowledge that she didn't agree with what Ironwood was doing, and still decided to do fuck-all about it. She said that she left the Schnee family to take back control of her life, but that was clearly a lie, since she placed herself in a position where she still can't make her own decisions.**

**And think about this from Weiss's perspective. Winter was the only person in her family whose approval she actually cared about. She was taught by her to always stick with her convictions, and had shown pride in Weiss for doing just that. However, once "follow you convictions" meant "disobey Ironwood", Winter immediately turned on her. Can you imagine the one person in your life that you wanted to please looking at you with pure hatred and disgust for doing what they always advised you to do, especially when they don't have the guts to do it themselves? This was probably both devastating and eye-opening for Weiss.**

**Plus, Winter was clearly furious at Penny for getting the Winter Maiden's power, even though Penny was just making sure Cinder didn't get it. It was supposed to be hers, and she's mad she didn't get it like an entitled brat. That's actually more in line with Cinder's way of thinking. Like how Cinder felt that the Fall Maiden's powers were rightfully hers (even though she had to steal them) and had a bit of a personal vendetta against Pyrrha for daring to think that she could have any of it.**

**Just Fuck Winter.**

**Okay, rant over.**

**I'm eagerly anticipating Fall of this year so we can see Volume 8, and I haven't been this excited and impatient for a new RWBY season for a long time.**


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: I really appreciate all the positive feedback this story has received. It really helps keep me motivated. When you guys are excited to see what happens, I get excited to show you. Thank you guys.**

**So, without further ado, let's get into Volume 1.**

Chapter 11

From Dust Til Dawn_, huh? _Ruby thought as she walked past the store in downtown Vale. _There's a shop name Yang would appreciate_. The 15-year-old Keyblade wielder had just come back from a _very_ successful run at the arcade, and was heading back to Vale's airport to catch a Bullhead ride back to Patch when she stumbled across this store. _I don't really have much of a reason to shop there_, she thought. _I don't use Dust_. Not much use for the harnessed primordial power of nature in crystallized form when you had actual _magic _at your disposal. As she looked more closely at the shop, she saw that the window said "Dust, Crystals, Books".

"Oh!" she exclaimed. "I wonder if they have the new issue of _Weapons_! I've been looking for that one!" Sure she had her Keyblade, Crescent Rose, which was absolutely the coolest weapon ever, even cooler than Mom's, but that didn't mean she couldn't think other weapons were cool, too. She'd never betray her one true love, after all. Weirdly enough, even thought it was 10 o'clock at night, the place was still open. So, she stepped up to the front door of the shop and strolled right in.

She immediately caught the shopkeeper's eye as she walked in the door. She couldn't blame him. Her outfit _was_ eye-catching, after all. She was wearing a long-sleeved black blouse with a black corset over it with red lace. She was wearing a fairly short puffy black skirt (_a combat skirt_, she always stressed) with red tulle underneath, a thick belt worn crooked on her hip, using her rose emblem as a belt buckle. Under the skirt, she wore black tights and black combat boots. On her back, she wore her beloved red cloak, her final gift from her mom. Her original mom. Man, that was confusing sometimes. Finally, around her neck on a short leather strap, was her red star-shaped Wayfinder. The elderly man most likely assumed she was a Huntress, or at least a Huntress-in-training, which, while not technically true, was not that far off from what she really was. She liked to think of being a Keybearer as being like a Huntress on steroids.

She walked up to the shopkeeper and gave him a friendly smile. "Where are your magazines kept?" She asked. He pointed to the back of the shop, where she saw a rack covered in books and magazines. "Thank you," she said, and walked to the back. The man seemed nice enough, so she felt a little bad that she was planning to just read the magazine and leave without buying anything. She should probably at least buy the book when she was done reading it. Maybe she could even buy some Dust for Yang. While Ruby herself had absolutely no need for Dust, her sister, who was about to start at Beacon, would probably appreciate having a little extra of the stuff to work with. Plus, it wasn't like Ruby was strapped for cash or anything. For whatever reason, the Heartless tended to drop cold, hard cash whenever she killed them, so her training excursions were really more like a part-time job.

Things were going to get lonely at home without Yang there. It was said often that a girl's sister was her best friend, but Ruby suspected it was more true in her case than most. In regards to friends, Yang really was all she had. And, despite how guilty it made Ruby feel, the same was mostly true for Yang, as well. They really only had each other, Mom, Dad, and Uncle Qrow.

She reached the magazine rack, and to her delight, the issue she was looking for was front-and-center on the display. She picked it up, put on her headphones that Mom got her for her last birthday, pulled up her hood, and flipped it open, practically drooling over the weapons showcased.

* * *

Only a few minutes passed before she felt someone roughly grab her shoulder and spin her around, her hood falling off her head in the process.

"Huh?" she asked as she looked at the man in front of her. He was wearing a black suit with a red tie, a black fedora, and red sunglasses. She saw he was carrying a short sword with a red blade in his hand, and he was pointing at the side of his head, gesturing at her to take her headphones off. "Yes?" she asked innocently.

"I said put your hands in the air, kid," he said in a voice that he probably thought was intimidating. Ruby's brow furrowed.

"Hold on, are you trying to rob me?" she asked.

"Yes!" he yelled in exasperation.

"Oh," she said. He probably saw a cute young girl standing there unawares and thought she'd be an easy target.

She smirked.

A second later, the goon in front of her was sent flying across the store. After that, another goon was running towards her, pointing a pistol at her face. Without missing a beat, she activated her Semblance, turning herself into a torrent of rose petals, and barreled into him. They both went flying through the front window of the shop, the goon instantly being knocked unconscious. This was gonna be easier than she thought. She turned her headphones off, turned around to face the shop, and summoned her beloved Keyblade, Crescent Rose, to her left hand. There were still three more goons in the shop dressed the same as the last two, while the fourth man was clearly their ringleader.

The head thug was wearing a long white overcoat, black pants, and brown shoes. He was wearing a gray scarf around his neck, and was holding a black hooked cane in his gloved hand and a lit cigar in his mouth. He was wearing a black bowler hat over his orange hair, which fell over one of his eyes. The visible eye she could see was green and...

"Are you wearing mascara?" she asked the man. He froze in the doorway of the shop, allowing Ruby to get a closer look. "Oh my gosh, you are! Ha! You're wearing more makeup than my sister!" She started laughing at the man, who's eye twitched in anger as he chomped down on his cigar.

"I was gonna have the men go easy on you, Red," he said, "but now I'm gonna make sure this hurts."

"Bring it, Guyliner," she said with a smirk. He practically bit the cigar in half.

"That's it, kill her!" he said to the remaining goons, who ran out of the shop to charge at her. Two of them were carrying swords, and one had a pistol and hung back near the building. Before the sword-wielding goons could reach her, she pointed her Keyblade at the gun goon.

"Thorn!" she yelled, and several roses shot out of her Keyblade towards the goon, the stems snagging onto his clothing and pinning him to the wall behind him. One goon tried to swing at her, but it was so slow she didn't have to try to duck under it. She whacked him in the head with her Keyblade, knocking him out instantly. Apparently, even though these guys had their Auras unlocked, they had zero training of how to use them. Most likely to give them an edge against other criminals and gang members, but against trained Huntsmen, or better yet, Keyblade Wielders, they might as well be civilians. The last goon charged at her with his sword raised in the most telegraphed attack ever, so Ruby used her Semblance to give herself a quick burst of speed, slid under his legs, and punched him right in the most sensitive area of the male body. The goon fell to the ground in a heap, and Ruby could see that Guyliner couldn't hide the cringe at her literally low blow. Uncle Qrow did always teach her to use every advantage to win a fight. It wasn't her fault that men had one incredibly exploitable weakness. As Guyliner stepped out of the store, she could hear the distant sounds of police sirens. The man looked down at the defeated goons.

"You were worth every cent, truly you were," he muttered sarcastically. He took his cigar out of his mouth, dropped it on the ground, and extinguished it with his cane. "Well, Red," he said, "As much as I would love to bend you over my knee and teach you a lesson—"

"Ew," Ruby said.

"It looks like I can't stick around, so I'm afraid that this…" he pointed the end of his cane at her, and the bottom flipped up, revealing a scope, "is where we part ways." He pulled the trigger on the head of his cane, and a flare flew out the end. Ruby activated her Semblance to dash to the side, and the area she was previously standing was covered in a thick cloud of smoke. While she was dodging the shot, she quickly used her Form Change ability on her Keyblade, and when she emerged from the dust cloud, she was holding a large red-and-black sniper rifle. She saw that Guyliner was making a run for it, so she aimed down the sight and fired. To her surprise, he quickly spun around, and used his cane to deflect the bullet, before continuing to run towards a ladder on the side of the building in front of him.

Oh, he was good.

He must have had some sort of Huntsman training. If he was leading this robbery, then that meant he clearly must have been a dangerous criminal. Ruby quickly found herself growing excited at the idea of catching someone like that. If she apprehended such a hardened criminal, Mom and Uncle Qrow would be so proud! It would be her first real chance to change the world for the better as a Keyblade wielder! She looked over at the shopkeeper, who was stepping outside to assess the damage to his store.

"Are you okay if I go after him?" She asked. He nodded, and she took off after the criminal.

* * *

She quickly followed him up the roof, and saw him reach the other side.

"Hold it right there!" she yelled in a voice she was sure was full of authority. Yeah, she was awesome. He stopped at the edge of the other side of the roof, his back still turned to her.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," he mumbled in annoyance. She pointed the rifle at him, and then she heard the roar of an engine. To her surprise, a Bullhead rose up from behind the building, and Guyliner jumped onboard before she could stop him. He turned around to face her, holding a red Burn Dust crystal in his hand. "End of the line, Red!" he shouted before throwing the crystal at her. She turned her Keyblade back into its base form as she saw him point his cane-that's-apparently-also-a-hand-cannon at the crystal. She focused intently, as the world around her darkened, and it seemed almost as if a targeting reticle appeared in her vision. Normally, this was how she used her Shotlock, but she had discovered another use for it.

She "locked on" and used her Semblance to launch herself straight into the Bullhead, taking Guyliner completely off guard. As she landed in the Bullhead, she landed a hit on his stomach with her Keyblade, sending him stumbling back. He was barely able to block her next attack with his cane, but she pressed on the attack, eventually driving him against the wall, pressing her weapon up against his.

"A little help here!" he called, and the Bullhead lurched a little bit. Ruby stumbled back, allowing Guyliner to step off the wall, and she was barely able to avoid a flaming fist headed right towards her face. She couldn't see the face of the person attacking her, save that it was a woman in a short, elegant red dress with black hair, with something colored amber glistening near her chest. Guyliner quickly scrambled to the pilot seat and sat down, meaning that the woman now fighting her was originally the one flying the Bullhead. She swung with her Keyblade, but the woman ducked underneath it and punched Ruby in the gut with another flame-coated fist. Before Ruby could react, the woman grabbed her by the face and lifted her up, holding her in front of the entranceway to the Bullhead. The hand gripping her face suddenly exploded, causing Ruby to feel her Aura take a huge hit and sending her flying out of the Bullhead to the roof below her. She landed on the roof and quickly recovered, looking back up angrily at the woman standing on the edge of the Bullhead. And then she noticed that the woman was staring at something in her right hand. Something bright red.

In a panic, Ruby felt her neck, and realized that she couldn't feel the leather strap that held her Wayfinder. She looked up and the woman was staring at the pendant intently.

"Hey!" Ruby shouted to her. "Give it back!" She crouched down, ready to launch herself back into the Bullhead, when the woman simply tossed the Wayfinder down to her. She caught the pendant in surprise, not expecting her actually just give it back. She looked back up at the woman, who simply stared at her, before the door closed as the airship left. Ruby could only watch the ship leave in confusion. Who was that woman? Why did she just give Ruby back her Wayfinder? Before she could dwell on it anymore, she heard a stern voice from behind her.

"You are in _so_ much trouble, young lady!"

* * *

She had decided that the lady that yelled at her, despite being a Huntress, was absolutely _not_ cool. At first she thought she was, but then she practically arrested Ruby and dragged her to the police station, where she was currently sitting in an interrogation room being berated by the mean Huntress. And she didn't even do autographs! How lame was that?

She was an older woman with bright blonde hair pulled into a loose bun, with stern green eyes behind thin-framed glasses. Her outfit was something else, though. It was just _screaming_ "sexy schoolteacher", but in an "I'm trying way too hard to be sexy" kind of way. She was wearing a white frilly blouse with a keyhole cutout that showed off cleavage that would make Yang and Mom jealous (not Ruby, though. No siree). Below that, she wore a pencil skirt that doubled as a form-fitting corset, with black stockings and black, knee-high, high-heeled boots. Completing her outfit was a tattered looking cape that was black on the outside, and purple underneath. The fact that her weapon seemed to be a _riding crop_ of all things, and Ruby wasn't sure if the woman was supposed to be a Huntress, a sexy schoolteacher, or a dominatrix.

Maybe all three.

"I hope you understand that your actions will not be taken lightly, young lady," the maybe-dominatrix continued to lecture the poor 15-year-old while looking at a tablet-sized Scroll. "On top of the property damage caused to the shop, you put yourself and others in great danger."

"Hey, _they_ tried to rob _me_!" Ruby yelled. "I was defending myself!"

"I know," the woman said, her voice losing some of that fierce disappointment it had earlier. "That's why if it were up to me, you would be sent home with a very stern warning." Ruby looked up at the woman hopefully, wanting to just leave this place already. Couldn't they not hold her without charging her with anything, or something? She knew her rights. Vaguely. "But," Ruby's face dropped. "Someone would like to speak with you." The door opened, and in stepped an older man. She at least assumed he was older if the full head of gray hair was any indication. He was wearing a black suit with a green turtleneck underneath, and small round sunglasses. He was holding a coffee mug in one hand and…

Was that a plate of cookies?

"Ruby Rose," the man said as he stepped into the light, allowing Ruby to see his face. She recognized him. Headmaster Ozpin. He leaned forward, seeming to scrutinize her face. She leaned backwards uncomfortably. "You…" he paused, causing Ruby's discomfort to grow, "have silver eyes."

"U-Um, yeah," she stuttered uncomfortably, "That I do."

"So," he said, straightening up and gesturing to the tablet the dominatrix was holding, which was playing security camera footage of her fight with Guyliner's thugs. "Where did you learn to do this?"

"From my mentor?" she said awkwardly.

"You didn't attend a Combat School?"

"I went to Signal. Didn't stay long, though," she said, looking down sadly. "Stuff happened." Stuff she absolutely did not want to talk about right now, so she desperately hoped he wouldn't press the issue.

"I see," he said, and placed the plate of cookies on the table in front of her. She glared at the plate suspiciously.

This was a trap.

Didn't people use cookies in T.V. shows to lure people into a false sense of security? Well, she wasn't gonna fall for it.

…Unfortunately her hand didn't seem to get the memo, as the traitorous appendage picked one up and shoved it into her mouth. Within a few seconds, she had already devoured five of the delicious treats.

Darn her sweet tooth.

"It's just I've only ever seen one other woman wield a weapon like that before," he said. "A certain Master?"

"Tht's 'r," she said, but she currently had a cookie in her mouth. She quickly swallowed the treat and offered a short apology. "That's her. I've been training with her since I was really little, and now I can kick bad guy butt with the best of them!"

"So I've noticed," Ozpin said, putting down his coffee mug and taking a seat across from her. "And what is an adorable girl such as yourself doing training under such a skilled warrior?"

Adorable? Okay, first he stared deeply into her eyes when he walked in and now he was calling her adorable?

"Are…you coming onto me?" she asked nervously. Oh, no! This was the trap! The cookies _were_ to lure her into letting down her guard while he tried to take her in with his honeyed words and do all manner of unspeakable things to a poor, cute, innocent girl like her! The vile monster! No wonder his assistant was a dominatrix!

"…No," the maybe huge creep said, seeming surprised that she would ask such a thing. She was onto him. "I assure you, my intentions are not what you seem to be thinking. Let me rephrase the question: Why do you learn to fight?"

"Because," she said, visibly relaxing but still eyeing him suspiciously, "We live in a dark world. I want to do my best to make it bright again."

"You want to, what? Save the world?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"As much of it as I can. My older sister's going to Beacon this year while I finish my training, and then we're going to go out into the world and help as many people as we can. It's all we've ever wanted. To help people."

"Do you know who I am?" he asked with a smirk.

"You're Professor Ozpin. The Headmaster of Beacon."

"So I am. The question remains: What would say if I offered you the opportunity to go to Beacon this year?"

"I don't think I can," she said.

"But you do want to?" Ozpin asked, eyebrow raised.

"I mean, it would be nice," she said nervously. "If I attend Beacon, then I won't have to be away from my sister. But, it's not really my decision."

"Well, I would very much like to have someone with your talent and ability at my school. Who's decision is it? Maybe we can work something out."

"You'd have to ask my mom," she said, and Ozpin's eyebrows furrowed.

"…I beg your pardon?" he asked.

"My mom," she said, confused at his confusion. "The woman that raised me. A lot of people have them." He recovered from his bewilderment.

"Right," he said, "Well, I would love to have a chat with your mother."

* * *

Ozpin was very confused. Who exactly was Miss Rose referring to when she mentioned her mother? It couldn't be Summer. She'd been gone 11 years at that point. He supposed he would have to wait and see.

Since the police had already contacted Miss Rose's family, they didn't have to wait long before this mysterious mother of hers was let into the door of the interrogation room. When he saw who walked in the door, everything made sense.

She was older, and her blue hair was longer and pinned behind her head, but the woman was unmistakably Aqua Eraqus, the mysterious Keyblade Master from another realm he met a decade ago.

Her outfit was different from the one she wore last time. She wore a form fitting black cropped halter top with a piece of black leather armor covering the left side of her stomach, leaving the skin on the right side exposed. She had a metal pauldron on her left shoulder, and her arms were left bare with the exception of thick leather wristbands around each wrist. It didn't escape his notice that she was wearing a golden band on the ring finger of her left hand. She had a single pink strap crossing over her chest, going over her left shoulder and under her right armpit. She had a chain with two star-shaped pendants around her neck. One was made of blue glass, and the other was made of blue and black alternating glass. She was wearing short black shorts and thigh-high stockings, and blue cloths draped over each hip with that were designed to look like cascading waterfalls. Finally, she was wearing those odd silver boots of hers. Her eyes widened when she saw him.

"Ozpin?" she asked.

"Hello, Ms. Eraqus," he said with a slight chuckle. He knew Aqua was Ruby's mentor, but apparently she was the girl's mother now, too. She had certainly been busy the last ten years. Taiyang must have worked his usual magic again. He made a point to look at the ring on her finger. "Although, that's not entirely accurate anymore, is it?" She looked at her ring as well.

"No, it's not," she said with a faint smile.

"So, then I should call you Mrs…?" he asked, taking a sip of his coffee…

"Branwen."

And promptly started choking on it. Even Glynda, cold, stern Glynda, had her mouth hanging wide open. He could honestly say he was not expecting that.

"So, then, Qrow…"

"Is my husband, yes."

"_Qrow_ got married?" Glynda asked, finally, if a little inelegantly, voicing his surprise as well.

"Yes," Aqua said in confusion. "Is that a problem?"

"Not at all," Ozpin said, recovering from his shock. "We're just surprised. So, how long have you and Qrow been married?"

"It was a year about two weeks ago." Ozpin felt a little guilty at that. Qrow had been gone helping Ozpin investigate a certain problem for the past few months, and because of that, the man had missed his own first wedding anniversary.

"Well, I suppose congratulations are in order," Ozpin said with a small smile.

"Thank you."

"Now, let's get to the reason why I called you here." He looked at his deputy, still in the corner of the room. "Glynda, if you and Miss Rose could give us a few minutes." Glynda nodded, and escorted Miss Rose out of the room, closing the door behind her. Ozpin and Aqua were left alone in the interrogation room.

"So, what's this about?" Aqua asked, crossing her arms.

"I have invited your daughter to attend Beacon this year." Aqua raised her eyebrow. "I am aware that she is two years younger than the age we typically accept applicants, but there is no denying her extraordinary talent."

"No, there's not," Aqua said proudly.

"However, she has informed me that it is ultimately your decision."

"It is. And my answer is no."

"That's what I was afraid of," Ozpin said with a sigh. "And may I ask why not?"

"She hasn't finished her training."

"Beacon is a school that specializes in training warriors."

"I'm aware of that, but unless there's another Keyblade wielder that I don't know about, she won't be able to finish her training there."

"Is there a particular reason why it's so important that she finish her training that would prevent her from attending Beacon? I would very much like someone of her talents at my school."

"She has an important job to do," Aqua said. "She has a dangerous quest she'll have to go on, and I want her to be a Master before she leaves. Beacon is a boarding school. I can't afford for her to be away from home for four years. It'll set her back too far." Ozpin looked at her thoughtfully for a few minutes. If she didn't want to be away from Miss Rose for four years, then he could make sure she wasn't.

"Well then, Mrs. Branwen, I have a proposition for you."

* * *

"Oh, I can't believe my baby sister is going to Beacon with me!" Yang yelled happily, pulling Ruby into a bone-crushing hug. "This is the best day ever!"

"Can't breathe," Ruby wheezed through her crushed ribs.

"Oh, I'm just so proud of you!" she exclaimed, backing up to give Ruby a chance to breathe. Yang had certainly…grown.

She wore her brilliant golden hair in a wild mane that reached all the way down her back. She wore a short tan jacket that left her midriff exposed (_sure, show off why don't you_, Ruby thought), with short puffy sleeves over a yellow low cut crop top, that had her flaming heart emblem over her left breast. She wore black fingerless gloves, and on her wrists were golden bracelets that could unfold into a pair of shotgun-gauntlets, called Ember Celica. She wore incredibly short black shorts with a brown half-skirt behind them, and brown boots that reached her knees. Underneath those, she wore orange socks, with the right one scrunched up and the left one pulled up past her knee. She also wore a purple bandana tied under her left knee. She was also wearing an orange infinity scarf, and completing her outfit was a chain under the scarf that held her yellow Wayfinder. The pendant itself sat in the middle of her chest, and drew attention to her annoyingly large cleavage. With how tight her shirt and jacket were, it looked like those puppies were ready to burst out of her shirt.

Not that Ruby was jealous or anything. Oh, no. Puberty had just been far kinder to her older sister than Ruby, despite Mom's insistence that she'd hit a growth spurt soon. She was just a late bloomer, she had said. Why couldn't she be a now bloomer?

Nope. Not jealous at all.

"It was nothing, sis," Ruby said, banishing her thoughts that totally weren't about her own inadequacy away.

"What are you talking about?" Yang asked. "It was incredible!"

"It really was," Mom chipped in from next to the girls. "You stopped a robbery and managed to impress the Headmaster of the most prestigious Huntsman Academy on Remnant. That's not nothing, sweetie."

"See?" Yang asked. "Listen to Beacon's newest professor," she said with a sly smirk towards Mom. Apparently, Professor Ozpin was, for some reason, so desperate to get Ruby to attend his school that he struck a deal with Mom, hiring her as a professor just so she could keep up Ruby's training. "Everyone at Beacon's gonna think you're the greatest!"

"That's what I'm afraid of," Ruby said, nervously fidgeting with her Wayfinder. She had gotten a new chain for it, made of metal this time, so hopefully it wouldn't burn away. "I got into Beacon two years early. I don't want people thinking I'm special."

"But you are special," Yang argued.

"I don't want to be singled out like that again!" Ruby practically yelled. "You know what happened the last time people thought I was special." That brought Yang and Mom's moods down.

"Ruby," Mom said sadly, wrapping an arm around the girl's shoulder while Yang took the other one.

"Sorry, Rubes," Yang said. "I didn't mean it like that. It's just, you're incredible and I want everyone to see how great you are as much as I do."

"Thanks, sis," Ruby said, happy to hear her sister's faith in her. "I'm just not sure I want to go through all that again."

"Listen, honey," Mom said. "Beacon's different than Signal. They won't have time for that petty nonsense. And the ones that do won't last long. All that matters is skill, and trust me, you have plenty of that. So keep your chin up and an open mind. It won't be as bad as you think."

"Thanks, Mom," Ruby said, nuzzling a little bit closer for a second before stepping away.

"Besides," Mom said, "If anyone here should be nervous, it's me. I have to teach a class. With multiple students. I've never done that before."

"Relax, Mom," Yang said. "You taught us just fine. Beacon's lucky to have you on staff."

"I guess," Mom said, letting out a deep breath. "By the way, if you end up in my class, it'll be 'Professor Branwen', got it? Don't want anyone accusing me of favoritism by having two students call me 'Mom'."

"Yeah," Yang agreed. "We need to have some _semblance _of professionalism." She had the dopiest grin her face while Ruby and Mom just groaned. "Eh? Eh?"

"Just stop," Ruby said.

"Why did I even buy you that joke book?" Mom lamented.

"Hey, that was good!" Yang said, offended.

"No it wasn't," the rest of her family said in unison. Their conversation was interrupted by a hologram appearing near the window. They turned around to look at it, and Ruby recognized the person being displayed as the maybe-dominatrix from the police station.

"Hello, and welcome to Beacon," the hologram said.

"Who's that?" Yang asked.

"My name is Glynda Goodwitch."

"Oh."

"You are among a privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy. Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future Huntsman and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and training needed to protect our world." The hologram faded out as the airship was overcome with excited murmuring. Ruby walked near the window, and looked down on the breathtaking view below.

"Hey, I can see Patch," she said. "I guess home's not too far away after all."

"Beacon's our home now," Yang said, putting arm around Ruby's shoulder. They heard a groaning sound, and saw a blond scraggly boy in white armor looking like he was trying to hold down his lunch. He stumbled around the ship, clearly having a lot of trouble.

"I'm gonna see if he needs help," Mom said, leaving them to check on Vomit Boy.

"Guess the view's not for everyone," Yang said, and then the sisters watched in disgust as just when Mom approached him, the boy decided that he couldn't hold his lunch anymore, puking all over her shoes.

"Oh, gross!" Ruby exclaimed.

She really hoped this wasn't a sign of how the next four years were going to go.

**AN: And so it begins. Our little golden girl is headed off to Beacon, and Aqua is going with her as a professor just so she can keep training her.**

**I hope that I was able to get some of the changes across that I wanted to. Your feedback is much appreciated. **

**We also got to see a new form change for Ruby's Keyblade, a new spell, and a taste of some of her abilities.**

**So, I've got a question for all of you. Do you guys want me to compile a list of Ruby's spells and abilities? Or do you want to just be surprised as she uses them?**

**I would also like to state that I will be treating the Heartless a little differently than they are treated in canon. They will not be relentless like in the games for one reason: It would get old really fast if they interrupted every five minutes like in the games. There will be canon moments that pan out differently because the Heartless interrupt them, but I will be selective about it. I don't want to lean on them too much as a narrative device to change canon.**

**As always, thank you guys so much for reading. I'll see you all next time.**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

The Airship to Beacon finally landed, the hopeful students beginning to pile out. Well, most of them were hopeful.

Jaune was just scared.

And nauseous. Oh, so nauseous.

This wasn't how going to Beacon was supposed to go. The plan was simple: Get accepted, learn to fight, become a hero and live up to his family name, and maybe even get a girlfriend.

Instead, he was defeated by his motion sickness before he even stepped foot on campus. He was doing such a great job of holding in his vomit, too. But then this gorgeous older woman asked him if he was okay. And how did he answer her?

By puking on her shoes.

It totally wasn't his fault. He was just distracted from keeping his lunch by the beautiful woman. Of course, he was never going to say that to her. With how furious she was, he figured blaming her for him puking on her wasn't going to go well. Especially if the reason was because he thought she was beautiful. His sisters had always told him that he was as dense as a sack of rocks for reasons he couldn't understand, but he knew he'd be signing his death warrant if he verbalized his thoughts. Thankfully, he didn't have to deal with her yelling for very long before the airship landed, and he rushed out, still clamping his hands firmly over his mouth to keep the rest of the vomit in. It didn't take him long to find a trash bin and finally expel the contents of his stomach, just glad that the flying metal deathtrap had finally stopped. When he had finished puking, he looked up to see if he could find the woman so he could apologize, but he only managed to catch her stomping away, followed by two girls closer to his age.

"Welcome to Beacon," he grumbled under his breath.

* * *

"I don't think I've seen Mom this mad since that waitress tried to flirt with Uncle Qrow," Yang said as she and her sister observed their mom continuing to rant about Vomit Boy.

"Should…Should we do something?" Ruby asked nervously.

"I'M NEVER GONNA GET THE SMELL OUT!" Mom roared furiously.

"What do you think?" Yang deadpanned.

"Yeah, we should probably just leave her be." Ruby started looking around the area, desperate to change the subject away from their irate mother. "So, uh, nice view, huh?"

It really was a beautiful school. It was essentially a fancy-looking castle straight out of one of the books Yang used to read to Ruby. The castle was situated on top of a cliff, and its centerpiece was a tall tower that doubled as Vale's CCT. Normally, she would actually be able to admire the view, but she was a little distracted by her mom's temper tantrum, despite Ruby's best efforts to change the subject.

"Yeah," Yang sighed. Luckily, it didn't take long for Mom to calm down.

"Alright," she said, "I'm gonna go wash this crap off my shoes and go meet with Ozpin. Will you girls be okay by yourselves?"

"Ugh, yes, Mom," Yang groaned. "We're not little girls anymore."

"You'll always by my little girls, though," she said, causing the said girls to blush in embarrassment. "I'll see you both later. Love you."

"Love you, too," the sisters said at the same time as Mom walked toward the main building.

"Well, that could've gone better," Yang said. Ruby started looking around at the other students, and got excited seeing their weapons.

"Oh! Oh! Yang! That girl's got a collapsible staff! Oh! And he's got a fire sword!"

"Oh, boy," Yang sighed, grabbing Ruby's hood to stop her from following the other students. _First there's Vomit Boy puking on Mom, and now I gotta deal with this. Wasn't she nervous on the ship?_ "How are you this obsessed with weapons?" She asked, yanking Ruby's hood over her face. "You've got a freakin' Keyblade. How can you think any other weapon is cool after that?"

"Just because the Keyblade is the coolest thing ever doesn't mean I can't find other weapons cool, too," Ruby said defensively. "Weapons are like an extension of ourselves."

"Says the girl whose weapon literally came from her Heart."

"So? Everyone else puts a little of their personalities into their weapons, too. I love seeing new weapons. It's like meeting new people, except they won't judge you."

And there it was.

"Are you still nervous about the other students?" Yang asked.

"What if they hate me?"

"Ruby, don't be ridiculous," Yang scolded. "No one could actually hate _you_. Anybody who could find any reason to legit hate you probably also kicks puppies in their spare time and thinks ice cream tastes bad. And I'm pretty sure nobody is _that_ evil."

"The others at Signal seemed to find plenty of reasons to hate me."

"Yeah, and I told them where they could shove it. Those douchebags would probably puke at the sight of a baby."

"I guess."

"You want some sisterly advice? Just be yourself, Rubes. Don't bother trying to make friends by being something you're not. The real friends are the ones that will like you for you, not for who you're pretending to be. If that's not good enough for them, then fuck 'em."

"Swear," Ruby said automatically.

"Ruby, we're not six anymore," Yang groaned. "Just, uh, don't tell Mom I said that." Ruby gave a small laugh, which Yang figured was a good sign.

"Alright, I won't."

"We should probably go sign in. You coming?"

"I think I'll stay here for a few minutes. I'm still trying to process everything."

"Alright. I'll save you a spot." With a playful wink, Yang turned around and walked toward the main building.

She really hoped that this whole thing went well.

* * *

Ruby was still trying to wrap her head around what was happening. She was going to school at Beacon, the most prestigious Huntsman Academy in the world, with both her sister and her mother going with her. She wasn't sure exactly what she did to get this lucky. After what happened at Signal, she was sure she would never attend another Academy at all, let alone be personally invited by the Headmaster himself. At the same time, she couldn't help but feel a little guilty. Every single student here worked their butts off to earn their spot at this school, and she got to skip that process entirely. And she did it two whole years early. Would people accept her?

If they didn't, she would just have to make them. If she gave it her all, and proved to people that she deserved to be here, they would have no choice but to accept her.

She took a deep breath, and steeled herself to give Beacon everything she had. She turned towards the main building, a look of fierce determination on her face…

And immediately tripped on a luggage cart, spilling white cases everywhere.

"What are you doing?!" a shrill voice yelled.

Well, so much for that. Ruby shook her head to clear the daze and looked up at the source of the grating voice.

White.

That's all she saw. Everything about this girl was white. From her long hair pulled into an off-center ponytail, to her pale, porcelain skin, to her thigh-length dress and bolero jacket. Even her wedge-heeled boots were white. The only other hints of color were the red underside of her jacket, and the piece of black fabric at the neckline of her dress. Her eyes were blue, and interestingly, there was a vertical scar going over her left eye, which was the only scrap of imperfection in an otherwise perfect appearance.

And _boy_ was she mad.

"Uh, sorry!" Ruby attempted to apologize, but the girl was having none of that.

"Sorry?! Do you have any idea of the damage you could have caused?!" she continued to shriek at the Keybearer. Ruby picked up one of the cases, looking down at it uncertainly. Knocking those cases over couldn't have been _that_ bad, right? "Give me that!" The girl continued to shriek, snatching the case from Ruby's hand and opening it. "This is _Dust_—mined and purified from the Schnee quarry!"

"Schnee, Schnee, where have I heard that before?" Ruby mumbled quietly, too quiet for the girl to hear her. The girl picked up a glass vial in her perfectly manicured hands and started waving it around in Ruby's face, not realizing that it wasn't sealed correctly, causing Dust powder to spill out into the air.

"What are you, brain-dead?!" The girl yelled. Okay, that was just rude. Ruby attempted to tell her as such, but she suddenly found the need to try to hold back a sneeze. While this completely careless snooty girl in front of her was waving Dust around, some of it was starting to get into Ruby's nose. "Dust! Fire, water, lightning, energy!" Evidently, the girl, still not realizing she was leaking Dust everywhere, thought Ruby's stuttering was from not knowing what the stuff was.

Ruby tried to explain that yes, she did know what Dust was, but more of the stuff got into her mouth.

"Are you even listening to me?! Is any of this sinking in?! What do you have to say for yourself?!"

Ruby answered her. Oh, she answered all right.

By finally sneezing, setting off the Dust in the air and causing a fairly large explosion. When the smoke cleared, the girl was covered in soot and sending Ruby the most hate-filled glare the fifteen-year-old had ever seen.

"Oh, no," Ruby said sheepishly.

"You DOLT!" the white-haired girl screamed. "What are you even _doing_ here? Aren't you a little young to be attending Beacon?"

Any remark Ruby was about to make died on her tongue. She knew she would have to deal with people questioning her abilities because of her age eventually, but to have it happen this soon caught her completely off-guard.

"This isn't your ordinary combat school," the girl continued to berate her. "It's not just sparring and practice, you know! We're here to fight _monsters_! Just run along home, little girl." That did it.

"Hey!" Ruby shouted, finally finding her voice and seeming to take the other girl by surprise. "I've been fighting monsters for years! I'm not gonna let some stuck-up Princess disrespect me like that!"

"Princess?!" the girl went back to screeching. "How dare—"

"It's heiress, actually," a new voice chimed in. The two girls looked at the source and saw another girl approaching them, holding the vial that caused this whole mess. She had long black hair and a bow on her head, and was dressed in a strange black-and-white outfit. She was wearing a white crop top under a black vest with tails, both leaving her midriff exposed. Adorning her legs were short white shorts over black tights that gradually turned purple, and a gray flower, probably her emblem, was printed on the right thigh of her tights. Finally, she was wearing black boots, a detached black sleeve on her left arm, ribbons on both arms, and a black scarf. The girl had purple eye shadow, but her eye color gave Ruby pause.

Her eyes were amber.

_Cinder?_ Ruby thought, her eyes widening. She so desperately hoped it was her, but on closer look, it became obvious it wasn't. She was too young. Cinder would be 22 by now, so there was no way she would be attending a Huntsman Academy. She would have graduated already. If she was alive. Mom, Dad, and Uncle Qrow didn't seem to think she was, but Ruby and Yang knew better. They always had a feeling she was still out there somewhere.

They didn't know how they knew, but they just felt it. This girl, sadly, wasn't her.

"Weiss Schnee," the new girl said, introducing the white-haired girl, "Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, one of the largest producers of energy propellant in the world."

"Finally, some recognition," Weiss said, crossing her arms and smiling smugly at Ruby. The new girl narrowed those perplexing eyes of hers at the heiress.

"The same company infamous for its controversial labor forces and questionable business partners." The new girl's statement caused Ruby to start giggling, while Weiss just sputtered angrily. She finally had enough, snatched the vial from Not-Cinder's hand, and stormed off, leaving her butlers (_Butlers? Really?_ Ruby thought) to gather her stuff and put it back on the luggage cart.

"At least her first day sucks, too," Ruby said, looking to Not-Cinder. She attempted to ask for the girl's name, but she was already walking away, her nose in a book, not even sparing Ruby a look. Exhausted, Ruby just slumped to the ground, letting herself lie down on her back. Why was dealing with people so hard? Just _once_ she wanted to meet somebody who was just nice to her and didn't judge her. Why was that too much to ask for? "Welcome to Beacon," she said sadly. She just stared at the clouds for a few seconds before a shadow loomed over her. She looked up and saw a blond boy with blue eyes holding out his hand to her. He didn't look like much. He was just wearing a black hoodie and blue jeans with a few pieces of white armor over it, and a sword strapped to his waist.

"Hey," the boy said, "I'm Jaune."

"Ruby," she said, taking his hand and letting him pull her up. And then, before she could stop her mouth, she asked, "Aren't you the guy that threw up on the ship?"

* * *

Aqua had to physically hold herself back from investigating that explosion. It most likely didn't involve her. One of the new students probably mishandled their Dust or something, she convinced herself. Oh well. If they were that careless, they probably wouldn't last long.

Besides, it wasn't like either of her daughters were caught up in that explosion. Ruby didn't even use Dust, and there was no way Yang would be _that_ unlucky, especially with Qrow not on campus. She sighed internally. She really shouldn't make jokes about her husband's Semblance when he wasn't around.

She missed him. He had been gone on a mission for the past few months. All she knew was that a previous mission to protect some very important person failed, and the VIP was attacked. Afterwards, he was sent out to figure out who the assailant was, and she hadn't seen or heard from him since.

After spending several minutes trying to wash the vomit off her shoes (and she was going to have words with that boy when she saw him again), she made her way to the main auditorium, where she was supposed to meet Ozpin and Glynda. She saw them standing near a stage and approached them.

"Professor Ozpin, Professor Goodwitch," she greeted, causing the teachers in question to look at her.

"Glad to see you made it, Mrs. Branwen," Glynda returned the greeting. "But please, we are colleagues, so call me Glynda."

"Okay, Glynda," Aqua said, a little surprised at how friendly the blonde woman was. From the constant glare and the fact that Ruby called her a dominatrix (which Aqua had to admit was a little funny), she assumed that Glynda was always that stern. "In that case, you can just call me Aqua."

"Well, then, Aqua," Ozpin said, stepping towards her and extending his hand, "Let me be the first to officially welcome you to Beacon Academy." She offered her thanks and shook his hand, but she didn't miss the subtle sniff. She frowned deeply.

"If you noticed the smell, I really don't want to talk about it."

"My apologies. I didn't mean to offend you."

"No offence taken. I'm just going to have to give a certain someone a stern talking to." Ozpin and Glynda visibly recoiled at the malice in her glare, and she backed off, blushing in embarrassment a little bit. "So, anyway, what do you need me to do today?"

"The Headmaster is going to be giving an orientation speech, so you and I will be keeping an eye on the gathered students. I don't expect anything will happen, but there are sometimes clashing personalities on the first day that we must deal with."

"Got it," Aqua said, smiling confidently. If all she had to do today was discipline the rare unruly student, then this first day was going to be easy.

* * *

"Hey, all I'm saying is motion sickness is a much more common problem than people let on!" the blond boy named Jaune argued, causing Ruby to laugh. The two of them had wandered off randomly, and had ended up near the gardens.

"Look, I'm sorry! 'Vomit Boy' was the first thing that came to mind," Ruby said, trying to defend her earlier insult and even she could tell she wasn't doing a very good job at it.

"Oh, yeah? Well, what if I called you 'Crater Face'?"

"Hey, that explosion wasn't even my fault! That mean, prissy girl got Dust in my nose!"

"You know what?" The boy said. "No more insulting nicknames. The name's Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue- ladies love it!"

Oh, no. This boy was trying to flirt with her, wasn't he? He clearly didn't realize that the woman he puked on was her mom, otherwise he wouldn't be trying. Wait a minute. Why would he tell her what ladies liked about him? Did he not see her as a lady?

The nerve of this guy.

"Do they really?" she asked skeptically.

"They will! Well, I-I hope they will. My mom always says that…never mind." There was no way his game was that weak, was there? Maybe she was wrong about him.

"Well, my name is Ruby Rose. Short, sweet, and I don't use it as a pick-up line." Jaune started stuttering in embarrassment, his face as red as Ruby's cloak.

"Oh, no!" he exclaimed. "I wasn't trying to flirt with you or anything! I-I was just trying to make conversation." Of course. Why would anyone want to flirt with her? Yang was the one everyone wanted. Even before things got really bad at Signal, she was just "Yang's sister". And then Jaune kept talking.

"I mean, it's not like I don't think you're cute or anything. I do. Beautiful, even," he said very fast, but Ruby still caught what he had just told her, her face turning even redder than his.

* * *

Yang's eye twitched.

_Why do I suddenly have a feeling that someone's trying to make a move on my sister?_ She thought.

* * *

"But that's not why I talked to you," Jaune continued rambling, "It's just, I was having a rough day, and I saw you were having a rough day, so I figured I should come talk to you. Sorry if it felt like I was trying to flirt, but I honestly wasn't." Ruby had stopped walking and was just looking at him, and intense blush on her face. "Ruby?" he asked, and turned to look at her in confusion.

"No one's ever said that to me before," she whispered.

"Said what?"

"No one's ever called me beautiful." Growing up, there was a distinct difference in the way people talked about her and her sister. Yang was always "hot", "beautiful", "gorgeous", and some particularly daring boys even called her "sexy". But Ruby?

"Cute". "Adorable". If she was really lucky? "Pretty".

Never "beautiful".

"Really?" he asked.

"Yeah. I was always just 'the hot girl's kid sister'. So, thanks, Jaune."

"No problem," he said with a smile.

"So, you just saw a girl in trouble and decided to talk to her?"

"Well, yeah. After all, my mom always says "strangers are just friends you haven't met yet".

"I like that," Ruby said with a giggle.

"So, uh, do you know where we're supposed to be going?"

Oh, right. Orientation. Where was that again?

"I was following you." Oh, no. They couldn't be late to orientation on the first day!

* * *

Pyrrha couldn't help but feel a little disappointed by her experience at Beacon so far. Don't get her wrong, it was a great school with a sterling reputation, the teachers seemed wonderful, and the students were probably really nice. There was just one problem.

"That's Pyrrha Nikos," she heard someone whisper behind her in the crowded auditorium.

"Hey, isn't that the Invincible Girl?" another asked.

"Do you think she does autographs?"

Pyrrha sighed. This was all she heard since arriving in Vale. She had chosen to go to school at Beacon instead of Haven back home in Mistral precisely to avoid all this attention. While she was grateful for all of the opportunities her celebrity status earned her, including getting to go to any Huntsman Academy on Remnant with a full scholarship, she had always felt so alone. No one thought they could be friends with her, either out of a misplaced feeling that they didn't deserve to be friends with someone like her or out of some mistaken belief that she felt herself above everyone else. She knew she had zero chances of making any real friends at Haven, so she jumped at the chance to go abroad to study, hoping beyond hope that her fame wasn't as wide-spread in Vale as it was in Mistral.

She was wrong. Vale was no different.

Just once she wanted someone to see her as Pyrrha. Not "Pyrrha Nikos, the Campion". Not "Pyrrha Nikos, the Invincible Girl". Just Pyrrha. Why was that too much to ask?

A pair of students caught her attention. It was a blond boy in white armor and a girl in a red cloak that, if Pyrrha was being honest, looked a little young to be attending Beacon. They were both panting heavily, implying that they had run to the auditorium to avoid being late. She couldn't hear their conversation, but the red girl was clearly saying her farewells to the blond boy, who slumped his shoulders in disappointment before slowly walking to his own spot. He walked past Pyrrha, and she could hear him muttering something.

"Great. Where else am I gonna find a nice, quirky girl to talk to?"

Pyrrha was nice. She had quirks.

She opened her mouth to speak to him, but someone tapped her on the shoulder. She frowned for a split second before the carefully-crafted friendly smile found its way back onto her face.

"Yes?" she asked the student that got her attention.

"You're Pyrrha Nikos, right?" the girl asked.

"Yes, I am. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Oh, no, the pleasure's all mine," the girl said happily. "I'm such a huge fan."

"Thank you," Pyrrha said, using that same rehearsed line in that same rehearsed tone she used thousands of times.

"Oh, man, I really hope we end up on the same team."

"Yes, that would be lovely." Despite the smile plastered on her face, Pyrrha wasn't sure of the last time she had been this miserable.

_Welcome to Beacon_, she thought sadly.

* * *

After parting ways with Jaune, Ruby made her way to her sister, who was waiting in the crowd of new students. Yang waved her over, and greeted her with a smile.

"How's your first day going, sis?" Yang asked.

"I exploded," Ruby said with a sigh.

"Yikes," Yang said with a cringe. "Meltdown already?"

"No, I literally exploded a hole in front of the school. There was some fire, and I think some ice…"

"…What?" Yang asked, tilting her head in confusion.

"After you left I tripped over some crabby girl's luggage, and I tired to apologize, but she yelled at me, and then she started waving Dust in my face, and then I sneezed, and then I exploded, and then she yelled at me again, and I just wanted her to stop!"

"YOU!" a scarily familiar voice yelled behind Ruby, causing her to jump into her sister's arms in fright.

"Oh, no, it's happening again!" She yelled in horror.

"You're lucky we weren't blown off the side of the cliff!" Weiss yelled in that shrill voice of hers.

"Holy crap, you really exploded," Yang said, allowing Ruby to step out of her arms and glare at the heiress.

"It wasn't my fault," Ruby said, leveling a glare at Weiss for deciding to continue the argument.

"How was it not your fault?"

"You were waving an open jar! Dust got in my nose," Ruby argued. "What were you doing waving an open Dust jar around? I don't even use Dust and I know that was stupid!"

"How dare you!" Weiss continued yelling. "If you hadn't tripped, none of this would have happened!"

"That was an accident, and I apologized for it! But no, you decided to rub it in how much 'damage' I could have caused!"

"Yes, because knocking over cases of Dust is a great idea!" Weiss yelled sarcastically.

"How was I supposed to know the cases had Dust in them! Besides, it was an _accident_!"

"Well then, you should watch where you're going, you dunce!"

"Hey!" Yang yelled, finally getting involved in the argument, her eyes turning red and her hair beginning to glow. "Nobody talks to my sister that way!"

"Great, one's an idiotic child and the other is a trashy brute," Weiss said derisively. "Quite the family you've got there."

"Who the hell are you calling trashy?!" Yang yelled, getting even angrier.

_Uh-oh_, Ruby thought. There were a few ways to make Yang really angry. One was messing with her hair. Two was messing with Ruby. And three was calling her any variation of "slutty" or "trashy". She was neither of those things, and both sisters knew that. Sure, she wore revealing clothes, but there was a reason for that. After awakening her Semblance, she realized that it caused her body to give off a lot of excess heat, so she had to start wearing shirts that either were made from material that breathed better or bared her stomach to let some of that heat out. As she got older (and bigger), her body became a point of pride for her, and she wanted to show it off more.

But that in no way made her trashy. There were plenty of boys at Signal who assumed that and got a black eye for their trouble.

Weiss looked like she was headed for a similar fate at this rate.

"Oh, I don't know, how about the girl walking around half-naked!" Weiss yelled.

"Oh, it's on, Princess!" Yang yelled, cracking her knuckles.

"THAT IS ENOUGH, YOU THREE!" a familiar voice screamed at them. With an intense amount of shame, both sisters looked at the source and saw Mom marching towards them, an angry look on her face. Even Weiss it appeared had the sense to look sheepish now that a professor was approaching them about their argument. "What is going on over here?" she demanded.

"Uh," Ruby said, crumbling under Mom's glare. Weiss and Yang simply turned their backs to each other with a huff, crossing their arms. "Uh, there was a misunderstanding. There was an accident and then we started arguing about whose fault it was."

"Well, knock it off," Mom said. "Since it's the first day, I'm going to assume the nerves are causing emotions to run high. Just don't do it again."

"Yes, Mo—uh—Professor," Ruby said, almost forgetting that they were supposed to keep their connection a secret for now.

"I guess," Yang said in a huff.

"Of course," Weiss said in that haughty tone.

"Good," Mom said with a smile. "Now why don't you three start over? I'm sure you'll be great friends."

"Okay," Ruby said, and Mom walked away, clearly satisfied with how she handled the situation. She turned to look at Weiss, who still looked annoyed. Ruby held out her hand. "Let's give a shot. Hello, Weiss. I'm Ruby, and this is my big sister Yang."

"Yo," Yang said with absolutely zero enthusiasm.

"Wanna hang out? We can go shopping for school supplies."

"Yeah!" Weiss said. "And we can paint our nails and try on clothes and talk about cute boys like tall, blond, and scraggly over there!" she pointed behind herself, and Ruby noticed that she was referring to Jaune, who looked over with interest.

"Really?" Ruby asked.

"Of course not. Don't talk to me." Ruby and Yang growled in anger at the bratty heiress when they heard Headmaster Ozpin tap on the microphone to get everyone's attention, with Professor Goodwitch standing next to him.

"I'll…keep this brief," he said with very little emotion in his voice. "You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction." What was that supposed to mean? It almost sounded like he had little faith in his students. The crowd around the girls started whispering among themselves nervously. "You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step." He simply left it at that, allowing Professor Goodwitch to walk up to the microphone.

"You will gather in the ballroom tonight," the blonde professor explained. "Tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed." Both professors walked off the stage, leaving a general air of confusion among the new students.

"He seemed kind of…off," Yang commented.

"Yeah," Ruby agreed. "It's like he had something else on his mind." In their confusion, the three girls didn't notice Jaune approach Weiss from the side.

"I'm a natural blond, you know," he said in a clear attempt to be smooth, causing all three girls to facepalm. They may not like Weiss, but even they could agree that was just pathetic.

* * *

Aqua wasn't really sure what to make of Ozpin's orientation "speech", if it could even be called that. Weren't speeches like that supposed to raise students' morale, or something? Granted, she had never been to one of these things, but she had seen enough T.V. to get an impression. After the speech was finished, Ozpin and Glynda had collected Aqua and walked with her to the school's ballroom, where the students would apparently be spending the night.

"So, anything else I need to do today?" Aqua asked the Headmaster.

"Yes, actually," Ozpin answered. "The students will be staying here overnight, as you are aware, and we will need your help to chaperone them."

"Chaperone?" Aqua asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Yes. Both male and female students will be co-mingling in this room, so you will be required to make sure nothing 'unruly' happens."

Aqua's eye twitched.

"So, let me get this straight," she said. "You have a bunch of 17-year-old teenagers all sleeping in close proximity to one another, and think it's a good idea?"

"Well, how else would we do this?" he asked coyly. "We only have the one ballroom."

"You could at least put a wall up to divide men and women."

"Why would we need to do that when we have you? Besides, the dorms are co-ed, so sleeping near the opposite sex is something that the students will simply have to get used to."

Aqua's eye twitched twice this time. Was this man really telling her that her daughters, her sweet, beautiful, innocent daughters, might have to sleep in the same room with horny, perverted teenage boys?

"I know what you're thinking, Aqua," Glynda said, noticing the anger beginning to simmer in Aqua's gaze. "I assure you that we take assault very seriously. The people who share rooms are all on the same team, and we encourage team members to view each other as family and watch each other's backs. In addition, it is very difficult to force a Huntress or Huntsman in training to do something they don't want to do. There are several policies in place to prevent something from happening in the first place, and in the event that the unthinkable does happen, it will be dealt with swiftly. You can rest assured that the perpetrators will be punished to the fullest extent."

"Well, I guess that's a little reassuring," Aqua said, calming down a little.

"Teams are always comprised of exactly four students, and it often happens that members of both sexes end up on a team together," Ozpin explained. "In order to foster a sense of family and camaraderie, we have them live in the same space. It would be detrimental to their performance as a team if we required male and female members to sleep in different rooms, while mono-gendered teams could all sleep together."

"Okay, that makes sense. I'll just have to make sure that if my daughters end up with any male team-mates, they know exactly what will happen if they mess with my little girls," Aqua said, the intensity returning to her gaze. Aqua heard footsteps behind her, and turned around to see a rotund man in a burgundy suit, white hair, and a bushy white mustache.

"Ah, here's the other chaperone," Ozpin said. "Peter, this is our newest professor. She will be chaperoning the students with you tonight."

"Ah, stupendous!" the large man said in a deep, boisterous voice. "Welcome to Beacon, my good lady! My name is Professor Peter Port, and I teach Grimm Studies!" He offered his hand, and Aqua shook it happily.

"Aqua Branwen," she said. "A pleasure."

"Branwen, you say? Any relation to Qrow?"

"Yes. I'm his wife."

Peter seemed to stop functioning for a few seconds, simply staring blankly into Aqua's eyes.

"…That's preposterous," he said finally, taking Aqua aback.

"What do you mean? What's so preposterous about that?"

"I find it very difficult to believe that _Qrow_ of all people found it in himself to settle down."

"Well, I wouldn't necessarily say we 'settled down', but we've been together for 8 years, and I love him. Is there a problem with that?"

"No, not at all," Peter said quickly, realizing that he'd upset her with his incredulity. "I am truly happy that Qrow managed to find happiness, and I hope that the two of you continue to support each other for many more years. I was simply surprised, is all. I truly apologize for upsetting you."

"Apology accepted," she said.

"Well, now that introductions are out of the way," Ozpin said, gesturing towards the entrance to the ballroom, "I believe you two should set up. The students should start arriving soon, and you have a long night ahead of you."

* * *

Ruby was lying on her stomach on top of her sleeping bag, rustling through the small backpack she had brought with her into the ballroom. She was clad in pajamas that were somehow both comfortable and uncomfortable at the same time.

They were comfortable because of the material they were made of. However, wearing them in public made her feel super self-conscious. They were very simple: a black tank top with a cartoon Beowolf printed on the front and white pants with little roses dotted all along them, and a black sleep mask resting on her forehead. While they were very comfortable to sleep in, she had gotten them a few years ago. She had grown since then (not as much as she would have liked, mind), and the tank top was now a little small on her, to the point that a little bit of her stomach was left exposed. She had only brought the one pair of pajamas, not expecting to have to sleep in a room full of people she didn't know that would obviously judge her, and showing off skin was not something she liked doing. That was more Yang's thing. To her great discomfort, she actually had noticed a couple of boys look in her direction. So, she was reaching into her bag to get something to distract herself from the knowledge of all the prying eyes, and after a few seconds of looking, finally pulled out what she had been looking for.

It was a homemade book, with a plain white front with the words "For Ruby, From Cinder" written in red. She smiled at the old gift, and started flipping through it, looking at all of the hand-drawn pictures that had been colored in long ago. Seeing that other amber-eyed girl earlier had made Ruby think a lot about Cinder for the rest of the day, and she felt that she really needed to look at the present the older girl had made for her all those years ago. Even to this day, going back to look at the pictures still brought her comfort.

She was taken out of her nostalgia when her sister plopped down onto the sleeping bag next to her.

"It's like a biiiiig sleepover!" Yang declared, dressed in her far less modest pajamas. All she was wearing was an orange cropped tank top with her emblem emblazoned on the front and short black shorts. Ruby just knew that the self-confidence problems she was feeling from her own pajamas were about to get a whole lot worse now that her sister was lying down next to her for people to compare them. And of course, sweet little Ruby would come up short, as always.

At least one person thought she was beautiful, though she was sure Jaune's jaw would drop when he saw her sister. She sighed.

"I don't think Uncle Qrow would approve of all the boys, though," Ruby remarked, thinking back at how overprotective their uncle was when it came to boys spending time with the two of them, even before everything went bad at Signal. The common stereotype was for the dad to be the one to scare off potential boyfriends, but, and no offense to Dad, he had _nothing_ on Uncle Qrow.

"I know _I_ do," Yang said with a purr as she looked over at the boy's side of the room. Ruby followed her gaze, and saw that several of them were shirtless and either wrestling or flexing, clearly trying to get the attention of the girls. But then they saw Jaune.

He walked across their field of vision in a light blue onesie with a cute rabbit head printed on the front, and when he saw them, he stopped to wave. Ruby waved back, while Yang simply cringed.

"So, whatcha got there?" Yang asked, scooting over to look over Ruby's shoulder.

"The book Cinder made me."

"You brought it with you?"

"Yeah. I know it's silly, especially since we haven't seen her in 10 years, but looking at it makes me feel less alone." Yang wrapped an arm around Ruby's shoulder and pulled her closer for a hug.

"Hey, you're already making improvements there," Yang said.

"What do you mean?"

"That Jaune guy. He seems…nice. First day, and you already made a new friend!"

"Yeah, but what about Weiss?"

"What about her?" Yang asked with a scoff. "Just remember what I told you about people who don't think you're good enough."

"Screw 'em?"

"Yup. Besides, I think Jaune might be a real great friend for you."

"What makes you say that?"

"Earlier, when he walked past us? He waved at you. He didn't even look at me."

"Are you sure he didn't?"

"Rubes," Yang said in a slightly scolding tone. "Trust me, I've learned how to follow someone's eyes." Well, of course she did! She constantly had people staring at her chest! "He was only looking at you." Ruby smiled a little bit at that information. This was a first. When she had first started at Signal, even before…_that_…happened, there was a regular problem of people always thinking Yang was better, cooler, more attractive. There were a couple of boys interested in her during her first year, but their focus quickly changed when they saw Yang. Some boys had even pretended to be her friend just so they could get closer to her older sister.

The fact that Jaune seemed to completely ignore her half-naked and far more attractive sister meant he wasn't like those other guys and genuinely saw Ruby as a friend.

And that made her very happy.

"He did call me beautiful," she said absentmindedly, completely forgetting for a second who was lying down right next to her.

"He said what?" Yang asked, the redness of her eyes completely betraying the calmness of her voice. Oh, no. Yang was going into "protective older sister" mode.

"Yang, please," Ruby pleaded. "Don't scare off my first friend. He didn't mean it that way. He wasn't trying to flirt. He told me so himself."

"Boys say a lot of things, Ruby."

"Yang, I can handle myself." The sound of a small flame being lit caught Ruby's attention, and she looked up to see the black-haired girl from earlier, clad in a short black yukata, and still wearing her bow. She had lit a small candelabra, and was using the light it gave off to read a book. "That girl…" she thought out loud.

"What, you know her?" Yang asked.

"Who does she remind you of?" Yang squinted her eyes to get a closer look, and then widened them after a second.

"Cinder?" she asked.

"It's not, but I thought so too. She saw what happened with Weiss earlier, but left before I talk to her."

"Well, now's your chance," Yang said, grabbing Ruby's arm and dragging her towards Not-Cinder.

"Wait, what are you doing?!"

* * *

The sleeping situation in the ballroom was even worse than Aqua thought. The genders weren't even divided! The students were just clumped together randomly with no regard for who was near them. As she scanned the room, she noticed several boys looking her daughters' way, and even worse, she had a few eyes roaming up and down her own body!

Screw Ozpin's explanation. There was no way this was okay. She sent another disapproving glare to a shirtless boy flexing to get her attention before turning back to her chaperone partner for the night.

Peter was very good company, at least for when she had to stay up all night to make sure that a bunch of teenagers didn't get frisky. They had spent the last few hours swapping stories, and boy did he know how to spin a yarn. The pair quickly built up a mutual respect for each other from their tales of the Grimm they've fought, Peter supposedly by himself, and Aqua working alongside her husband. Mentioning Qrow got the older professor's attention.

"So, how did you and Qrow come to be together, if you don't mind my asking?" he asked.

"We had known each other for two years before we started dating," she said, smiling fondly at the memory of the night he confessed and they did…_that_.

She blushed a little bit at the memory.

"I was training his niece, Ruby, and we grew very close, so one day, things just happened."

"Ah, so you've known the family for a while then."

"Yes. Actually, you should probably be informed, but two of the new students this year are my daughters. They're Qrow's nieces, Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long."

"Your daughters?" Peter asked in confusion.

"Adopted." His brow furrowed in concern.

"Did something happen to Taiyang?"

"Oh, no, he's fine. I meant _they_ adopted _me_. It's confusing. I was taking care of them, they started calling me 'mom', and then Qrow and I got together. So, I'm their mom, Tai is their dad, but legally I'm their aunt, since I'm married to their uncle."

"I see. Yes, that certainly sound confusing."

"Obviously, this is something that should be kept under wraps. Don't want rumors to spread."

"Of course."

"So, what can I expect from being a professor?"

"It is wonderful!" he said happily. "There is something so very rewarding about teaching the next generation and preparing them to protect the innocent!"

"What about the students? What are they usually like?"

"They are usually a rowdy bunch, but nothing too bad. There are usually a few inflated egos that need to be quelled, but overall, they are a delight."

"That's good to hear."

"OH NO, NOT YOU AGAIN!" she heard three voices yell in unison, and she saw, to her great surprise and embarrassment, both her daughters and that same girl they were arguing with earlier yelling at each other, disturbing everyone else around them.

"GO TO SLEEP!" she shouted angrily at them, causing all three to instantly pale and dive for their sleeping bags. She sighed.

This was going to be a long four years, she could already tell.

**AN: For the record, this is not meant to be the beginning of a Lancaster story. He genuinely was not trying to flirt with her, and they do not see each other romantically. He was just flustered when she accused him of flirting, and was being honest when he called her beautiful. She is not growing feelings for Jaune, it was just a compliment that meant a lot to her with her insecurities. In fact, in regards to other relationships, I'm not really sure which ones I want to do other than the obvious Aqua/Qrow romance. By the way, the ship name for these two is Bluebird. I'm still figuring out what relationships characters will have. I can tell you that it won't be Lancaster.**

**So, in regards to the list of abilities, I will give a description as Ruby's abilities are revealed and then at the end of each Volume, give an overall list so you guys can keep track. So, so far, we've got:**

**-Petal: A spell that launches a stream of razor-sharp rose petals from the tip of Ruby's Keyblade.**

**-Thorn: A spell that launches a few roses at her enemies, impaling them with the stems.**

**She can use Shotlock, but I haven't shown what they are yet.**

**By combining Shotlock with her Semblance, she can recreate Sora's Airstep ability from KH3.**

**Her Keyblade can also Form Change into both a scythe and a sniper rifle.**

**Thank you guys so much for reading! Next time will be the beginning of Initiation and Aqua getting used to her new role. See you then!**


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: Hey guys. Another little bit of a short chapter here. I have my reasons. **

**Before we start, I just want to thank you guys again. As of the time that I'm posting this chapter, this fanfiction is the twelfth most favorited RWBY/KH crossovers on this site out of 150.**

**12 out of 150! Holy crap! Thank you guys so much! It means so much to me that you guys really enjoy this story!**

**So, without further ado, enjoy!**

Chapter 13

The more Ozpin looked into Aqua Branwen, the more interesting she became. For obvious reasons, there was absolutely no record of her existence before a decade ago, but much to his surprise, despite not being a licensed Huntress, she still had a service record. He knew how powerful the Keyblade was, and from how the young Miss Rose turned out, she clearly was a good teacher, but it always helped to get a good picture of exactly what the people teaching his students were capable of.

Which was why he currently found himself combing through the records of missions she had been on, and the Grimm that she had slain. Every single solitary mission she had gone on were technically missions Qrow had accepted, but she had accompanied him for all of them. But exactly what she had done with her husband surprised even the old Headmaster.

Goliaths. Ancient Deathstalkers. King Taijitus. Even a Nuckelavee. In addition to that, the duo had taken down gang hideouts, apprehended rogue Huntsman and Huntresses, and defended villages from Grimm incursions. Even more surprising, some of the later reports mentioned two young girls had been sighted alongside them. Not only had they taken on a regular basis missions that would make even veteran Huntsmen think twice, they had also used them as training excursions for young Miss Rose and Miss Xiao Long.

Qrow had truly picked a fascinating woman for his wife. In time, both Aqua and her younger daughter could prove to be the greatest assets at his disposal. She would certainly be a fantastic teacher. They might be able to turn the tide in his war against _her_. If he played his cards right, maybe one of those three could even make a suitable replacement for Amber…

He had work to do.

* * *

Aqua was awakened by a hand shaking her shoulder. Her eyes opened groggily, greeted by the mustached face of Peter. He had decided half-way through the night that she could go to sleep, and he'd handle watching over the students. She initially refused, not wanting to abandon her new co-worker, but the large man insisted for some reason. She ultimately obliged him, and fell asleep in her chair, hence why he was now waking her up.

Overall, it was a fairly uneventful night, with there really only being one incident. Surprisingly to the Keyblade Master, it was a girl who initiated it, not a boy. Some orange-haired girl tried to cuddle with a black-haired boy while he was sleeping.

Aqua decided to put a stop to any shenanigans, but then something odd happened.

The girl looked like she was on the verge of panicking when Aqua told her that no, she couldn't cuddle him.

That struck her as odd. Clearly there was more going on than this girl just wanting some action, so she asked the girl if they knew each other. She insisted that they had been together (but not _together_-together) for their whole lives. There was something about the earnestness of the girl that caused her to believe her, so she did the one thing she probably wasn't allowed to do.

She told her that, just this once, she could hold the boy while she slept, but they'd be keeping an eye on them, and she was not to try anything further. To her surprise, the girl gave _her_ a hug before wrapping her arms around the sleeping boy. She didn't miss the smile that appeared on the boy's face when she did that.

She and her bleeding heart.

Now that she had woken up, she looked over to where the girl was sleeping, who was just starting to stir. The ginger saw Aqua, sent her a grateful smile and waved, and got up to change into her regular clothes in the girls' restroom, leaving her companion behind, who was still sleeping peacefully.

_Not together-together, huh?_ Aqua thought with a smile. _Yeah, right_.

Her scroll vibrated, and she opened it, revealing a message from Ozpin informing her to meet him at the cliff. She sighed. Looks like her job wasn't done yet.

At least now she knew why Peter insisted she get some sleep.

* * *

Ruby slowly opened her eyes, the large windows of the ballroom letting a lot of natural light in. Her sister was still asleep, and Ruby rubbed her eyes to help wake up. She was hoping to have a peaceful morning before initiation to avoid getting worked up, but in order for that to happen, she would have to make sure to avoid Weiss. She briefly considered waking Yang up, since she knew her sister always took forever to do her hair, when someone else beat her to the punch.

"Wake up, lazy butt!" A girl's voice yelled near them, causing Yang to jump awake.

"I'm up! I'm up!" she called frantically, her hair standing out wildly. The sisters looked at the girl that yelled, Yang with a glare, and saw that she had orange hair and teal eyes and was wearing a white shirt with a heart cut-out in the chest and a pink skirt. They also noticed that she was actually trying to wake a boy in green with black hair with a magenta streak in his bangs that matched his eyes.

"It's morning, it's morning, it's morning, it's MORNING!" She sang while zipping around the boy who, much to the sisters' astonishment, didn't even seemed phased by the incredibly hyperactive girl. She dragged him off to get ready with her, leaving Ruby and Yang confused at the scene they just witnessed.

"Well, she seemed…excited," Ruby said.

"Ugh, it is way too early in the morning to deal with this crap," Yang complained.

"I'm sure it won't be _too_ bad," Ruby said uncertainly.

* * *

Now, Yang loved Ruby to pieces, it was plain for anyone to see, but sometimes, she said some really dumb things.

That was one of them.

Not only was the ginger girl really _that_ bad, she was _worse_. She just never shut up.

All morning, the girls had to listen to her babbling.

Getting dressed? She was talking.

Eating breakfast? She was talking.

Brushing their teeth? She was talking.

They were in the locker room, retrieving their weapons and making sure all of their equipment was in order, and she was _still talking_. In fact, Yang was pretty sure that the ginger had never once stopped to take a breath, while the boy she was talking at just stayed quiet the whole time. She wasn't sure if he just couldn't get a word in edgewise, was simply accepting his fate, or worse, somehow actually _enjoyed_ this girl's random nonsense. Since he wasn't smiling, it clearly wasn't the last option. She simply closed her eyes in sympathy for the poor boy as the ginger girl dragged him out of the locker room, finally leaving the sisters in peace.

"Holy crap, I thought it'd never end," Yang groaned.

"Wonder what she was so worked up about," Ruby said.

"Who cares? It's finally over!"

"Yeah."

"So," Yang turned her attention towards her little sister, "You excited for Initiation?"

"Yeah!" Ruby said happily. "Mom said yesterday that all that really matters here is skill, and now I finally get to show mine off. No more awkward small talk. Today, my Keyblade does the talking!"

"Okay, well, remember that you do still need to talk to people." Ruby let out an adorable yet supremely sad whine.

"Why? What does talking to people have to do with fighting?"

"We're gonna be in teams, remember?" Yang pointed out.

"I'll just be on your team."

"Well, obviously," Yang said. "But teams have four people in them. Unless we get super-lucky and end up with Jaune and that Blake girl, we're going to be with people we don't know. You'll have to talk to them and learn to work together."

"I guess," Ruby said sadly. Yang put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Look, Rubes," she said, "Beacon is a fresh start for both of us. We have a chance to make real friends, here, so just keep an open mind and be yourself."

"You, too," Ruby said. "I know that some people aren't going to like me." Before Yang could say anything, Ruby put a hand up to stop her. "But don't limit the friends you have just because someone doesn't like me. We can have different friends."

"Sorry, sis, but no can do," Yang said matter-of-factly. "I want nothing to do with anybody that doesn't like my baby sister. We're a package deal. Even if it's you and me against the whole school, I'll always stay by your side. That's a promise."

"Thanks, Yang," Ruby said, smiling at her older sister. "I love you."

"Love you, too."

"This is ridiculous!" the voice of Jaune complained, as he was holding a piece of paper in his hands and wandering around the locker room. "There's no way I put my gear in locker 636 yesterday! I would've remembered having to count that high! Oh, why does this have to happen today?" Yang sighed.

"Just leave it to Vomit Boy," she said with a chuckle.

"Well, it was a nice moment while it lasted," Ruby said with a shrug.

* * *

Pyrrha knew that she had to look her best at all times. She had always been told to maintain an image of both strength and beauty, and it took her years to perfect the look, creating an outfit that was both practical for combat, and highlighted her feminine charms at the same time.

A bronze chest plate to protect her midsection, but with no shirt underneath, leaving her shoulders, upper arms, cleavage, and a little bit of her stomach exposed to draw attention to her athletic figure.

Black gloves that extended past her elbows to protect her hands during combat. They both improved her grip when she was holding her weapons, and kept the skin of her hands blemish-free for fan meet-and-greets and formal events.

A black A-line miniskirt with a red sash tied around it and trailing behind her. It was short enough to not interfere with her movements, which for a skirt that tight meant it had to be _very_ short, the aesthetic benefits plain to see.

Bronze plate armor covering her legs from the tops of her high-heeled boots to halfway up her thighs, leaving an expanse of skin exposed under the hem of her skirt, both protecting her legs and giving people a glimpse at the smooth skin being protected.

Finally, a bronze hairband worn under her bright crimson hair, which was tied back in a long, sweeping ponytail. It was the one piece of her outfit that served no practical purpose, and was instead something that she chose to add, as it was a gift from her father after winning her first tournament. Despite all the strife that those tournament wins would cause her later down the line, she still looked back fondly on the early days of her prize-fighting career, before the pressures of fame hit her.

After making sure her outfit was perfect as always, she opened her locker, sending a friendly greeting to the white-haired girl standing in front of the locker next to hers, and retrieved her weapons, Milo and Akouo. Milo's base form was a red-and-gold sword that mecha-shifted into both a javelin and a rifle, and Akouo was a circular bronze shield. They were the only two constants in her life that she actually enjoyed having as constants. She strapped both weapons to her back, when the white-haired girl spoke to her.

"Pyrrha Nikos, right?"

Pyrrha sighed internally. _Here we go again_.

"Hello there," she said in her fake cheery tone of voice. The girl next to her looked regal, even more so than Pyrrha herself, and awfully familiar for some reason.

"My name is Weiss. Weiss Schnee. I'm not sure if you remember me, but we met last year after you won the Mistral Regional Tournament again."

"Oh, yes, I do remember you," Pyrrha said. The Schnee Dust Company was sponsoring the tournament that year, so of course Jacques Schnee and his children were present for the party afterwards. As the winner, she had been obligated to attend to "wine-and-dine-without-the-wine" as her agent put it to get in touch with potential sponsors. That interaction ended with her doing an ad campaign for the SDC an effort to encourage Sanctum and Haven students to purchase more of their product. After all, if "The Invincible Girl" used SDC Dust, then everyone would want to use it, eager to get any kind of edge they could. Needless to say, it worked. The only real silver lining was that since it was an ad specifically for Huntsmen- and Huntresses-in-training, she could wear her usual combat gear and not something far more revealing, as had become more common as she got older. It sometimes felt like her abs were just as recognizable as her face. "It's very nice to see you again, Weiss."

She wasn't sure yet if she meant that.

"Likewise," the Heiress said with a friendly smile, opening her locker and retrieving her weapon, a silver rapier with a revolving chamber near the handle filled with different types of Dust. Made sense, since her family had a practical monopoly on the stuff.

It made her wonder if the ad campaign was even necessary.

"So, Pyrrha," Weiss said, strapping her rapier to her belt, "have you given any thought to whose team you'd like to be on? I'm sure everyone must be eager to unite with such a strong, well-known individual such as yourself!" Of course she was just trying to butter her up. Why else would anyone want to talk to her?

"Hmm…I'm not quite sure," she answered calmly. "I was planning to let the pieces fall where they may." Just like she had practiced, being non-committal, until she was asked a direct question. Pretend that she was actually interested in what she was talking about, but make no promises. Especially since she knew where this conversation was going.

"Well, I was thinking maybe we could be on a team together," Weiss said, clearly pretending that it wasn't totally what she was after from the start. Get in the good graces of THE Pyrrha Nikos, and everyone thought they were set.

"That sounds grand!" Pyrrha lied through her teeth. In actuality, if she could help it, she would rather partner up with anyone else but Weiss.

"Great!" Weiss said happily, until a blond boy stepped between the two of them.

"You know what else is great?" he asked rhetorically. "Me. Jaune Arc. Nice to meet you."

"You again?" Weiss asked in irritation. Pyrrha's brow furrowed. Had this boy tried accosting Weiss in the past? She may not have had a high opinion of her, but she didn't want her to go through some money-hungry boy harassing her.

She knew just what to do.

"Nice to meet you, Jaune!" She said, attempting to step between him and Weiss.

"Yeah, yeah," he said, brushing her aside and keeping his attention on Weiss. Pyrrha blinked in stunned silence. That didn't work? That usually worked.

Just her luck. The one time she wanted to use her fame to save another girl was also the one time a boy completely ignored her.

"So, Weiss," Jaune continued, trying to flex his noodly arms. "I couldn't help but overhear your fondness for me last night."

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me."

"Don't worry! No need to be embarrassed!" Jaune said, completely misreading the atmosphere. "So, been hearing rumors about teams. I was thinking you and me would make a great one. What do you say?"

"Actually," Pyrrha said, still trying to get his attention off of Weiss, who was clearly growing more uncomfortable by the minute, "I think the teams are comprised of four students each, so—"

"You don't say," Jaune said, and immediately turned to face Pyrrha. Mission accomplished, she supposed. "Well, hot stuff, play your cards right and maybe you could join the winning team."

Hot stuff? Clearly, all this boy cared about was getting under a rich girl's skirt, not _which_ rich girl it was. Well, at least his attention was off Weiss. As much as she hated the attention, better it happen to her than someone else have to suffer through it. At least she was used to it.

Weiss didn't get the memo, though, as she stepped between her and Jaune, bringing his attention right back to the girl she was trying to protect.

"Jaune, is it?" Weiss asked, causing the boy in question to nod. "Do you have any idea who you're talking to?"

"Not in the slightest, snow angel."

Huh?

Pyrrha's eyes widened. He didn't know who she was? That couldn't be right.

"This is Pyrrha," Weiss said, gesturing to the redhead.

"Hello again!" she said, still keeping up her polite exterior.

"Pyrrha graduated top of her class at Sanctum," Weiss explained.

"Never heard of it," Jaune said quickly.

Pyrrha's smile twitched, threatening to become real. She shouldn't get her hopes up. He'd recognize her eventually.

"She won the Mistral Regional Tournament four years in a row!" Weiss said forcefully. "A new record!"

"The what?"

Pyrrha's smile widened. _He didn't know who she was_.

Weiss had finally had it, waving her arms in anger.

"She's on the front of every Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes Box!" she shrieked. Jaune gasped excitedly.

"That was _you_?!" he asked. Seriously? _That_ was where he recognized her? Well, Pyrrha supposed if he absolutely _had _to recognize her from somewhere, there were worse places.

She probably would have died of embarrassment if he recognized her from one of the swimsuit photoshoots she did for magazines. It was never comfortable when a male fan revealed that he had a photo of her in a bikini in his house. Why did they always think she would find it charming?

"But they only do that for star athletes and cartoon characters!" Jaune said, still amazed that she was on _cereal_ of all things.

"Yeah, it was pretty cool," she said. It hadn't been. "Sadly, the cereal isn't very good for you."

"So," Weiss said, interjecting herself into the conversation again, "after hearing all of this, do you really think you're in a position to ask _her_ to be on your team?"

"I guess not," Jaune said, hanging his head. "Sorry."

Oh, no! Screw whatever she thought his intentions were and screw Weiss! She had _finally_ found somebody that didn't know who the hell she was, and she was _not_ going to let some heiress ruin this for her!

"Actually, Jaune," she said in a comforting tone. "I think you'd make a great leader."

"D'oh, stop it!" he said bashfully.

"Seriously, please stop it," Weiss said, hand on her hip. "This kind of behavior should not be encouraged."

"Sounds like Pyrrha's on board for Team Jaune," he said, shuffling very close and placing his face right in front of Weiss's, completely oblivious to her recoiling from him, her eyes widening. "Spots are filling up quick. Now, I'm not supposed to do this, but maybe I could pull some strings, find a place for you. What do you say?"

"That is far too close! Pyrrha, a little help, please?" Pyrrha instantly sprang into action, grabbing Milo from her back, turning it into javelin mode, and throwing it at him. It snagged his hood and carried him across the locker room, embedding itself into one of the lockers and leaving him dangling.

"I'm sorry!" she called to him, a little ashamed that she took such drastic action when she wasn't sure he was aware of the fact that it looked like he was threatening her.

But, far be it for Pyrrha to leave a girl hanging.

* * *

Ruby cringed as she saw Jaune get sent flying.

"_That's_ the boy that called you beautiful?" Yang asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Yeah," Ruby said with a sigh. "Well, now that I know what him actually trying to flirt looks like, I know for a fact that he wasn't hitting on me."

"'Trying' being the operative word," Yang remarked. The sisters heard an announcement on the loudspeaker informing them to head to the cliff to begin their Initiation, and watched Weiss storm off indignantly, while Pyrrha retrieved her weapon, letting Jaune slump to the floor pathetically. Ruby narrowed her eyes.

She could have imagined it, but it almost looked like when Pyrrha yanked her spear out of the wall, it never made contact with her hand until after it was out.

Weird.

The sisters decided to walk towards Jaune, who was still slumped against the lockers, looking too defeated to get up.

"Having some trouble there, lady killer?" Yang asked teasingly.

"I don't understand," Jaune whined. "My dad said all women look for is confidence! Where did I go wrong?"

"Okay, first off, women look for way more than just confidence," Yang said, a little irritated at Jaune's father's rather narrow mindset of what women look for in a man. "Second, 'Snow Angel' probably wasn't the best start, and third, there's confidence and then there's bravado. That was bravado. Confidence helps, but you can't fake it. It has to come naturally."

"Easy for you to say," he grumbled.

"Well, of course I'm confident," Yang said with a grin. "I'm just that awesome that it's impossible not to be. Glad you noticed."

"Come on, Jaune," Ruby said, offering him a hand, "Let's just go."

* * *

"So, uh, what's with the tiles?" Aqua asked. She was standing with Ozpin and Glynda at Beacon Cliff, waiting for the students to arrive. Well, the rest of them at least. Several students were lined up, each one standing on a silver tile.

"The purpose of those will be revealed in time," Ozpin said cryptically. "Wouldn't want to ruin the surprise."

She scanned her eyes over the gathered students. Most of them seemed unremarkable, but there were a few who caught her attention.

There was a black-haired girl with a bow on her head, an intense look in her eyes. There was a tall boy with dark red hair and armor, standing with a pose and general demeanor that just _screamed_ "smug". But not in the usual way, no. This boy clearly considered himself a god among men. She watched him look in her direction, roam his eyes up and down her body, and pause for several seconds on her chest. He looked rather pleased at what he saw, much to Aqua's anger. Making things worse, he didn't even bother to look her in the eyes, instead nodding approvingly and shifting his gaze over to Glynda.

She really hoped that whatever class she was going to be teaching involved combat. That boy clearly needed to be taken down a peg or two. Or twenty. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself down, and continued looking over the gathered students. There was a regal-looking, white haired girl, a red-haired girl in bronze armor, and…

"Renny, look, that's her!" the ginger girl from last night said to her black-haired companion, smiling happily and waving at Aqua. "That's the one I told you about!"

"Yes, Nora, I see her," the boy, "Renny" apparently, said evenly.

"I think she might be my new favorite person. Besides you, of course."

"Yes, Nora."

"I mean, we've been together for so long. Not _together_-together, but still."

Aqua chuckled at the girl's antics, being reminded of how Ruby was when she first met her.

Young love was just the sweetest thing, wasn't it?

She looked past the couple and saw the final three people walking to their spots. She was easily able to identify Ruby and Yang, and she glared when she saw the third person with them.

It was a boy. And not just any boy, no.

It was the boy that threw up on her the day before.

"Well," Ozpin said, "Now that everyone is here, we can begin."

* * *

Yang saw that herself, Ruby and Vomit Boy were the last three to arrive at the cliff overlooking a vast forest. She saw Headmaster Ozpin, Professor Goodwitch, and, much to her surprise, Mom standing at the head of the cliff. She chuckled when she saw the glare Mom was sending Vomit Boy's way. She took up a position on a silver tile, her sister going next to her, and Jaune taking the spot at the very end of the line. Ozpin stepped forward.

"For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest," he said.

"Now," Professor Goodwitch continued, "I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates…today."

Yang heard Ruby whimper next to her, probably nervous about having to meet new people. Yang didn't see a problem. All she had to do was get on a team with Ruby, and they'd be all set. Ozpin decided to take his turn to speak.

"These teammate will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well."

Yang and Ruby obviously worked well together. Hell, they'd trained together for the better part of ten years. Yang was feeling better about this by the second.

"That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

"WHAT?!" both sisters exclaimed at the same time. Yang's good feeling instantly evaporated. How were they supposed to guarantee that they end up on a team together if the teammate selection was so random? Oh, what were they going to do?

"After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy anything in your path, or you will die."

Now, monsters were of no concern to Yang. A way bigger concern was making sure she ended up on a team with her baby sister. They needed each other! They had never been separated before, and she would be damned if they were now!

"You will monitored and graded throughout the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?" Vomit Boy raised his hand.

"Yeah, um, sir?" he asked.

"Good!" Ozpin said, completely ignoring Vomit Boy. "Now, take your positions." A yelp from further down the line and the view of a human body flying through the air informed the remaining students as to how exactly they were getting from the cliff to the forest.

The tiles they were standing on were actually catapults.

The crazy son of a bitch was _launching_ them off a cliff! She looked up at the teachers, and Mom looked just as surprised as she was.

Students were continuing to get launched further down the line, and it was rapidly getting close to her turn. She had to think. How was she supposed to make sure she was on a team with Ruby if partners were determined by eye contact?

Wait. Eye contact. That was it!

If they couldn't see her eyes, then they couldn't prove that she had made eye contact at all.

She looked over at her panicking sister, gave her a reassuring wink, and pulled a pair of sunglasses out of her back pocket. She put them on not a moment too soon, as her platform launched her through the air, all other noises being drowned out by the rushing of the wind.

It was only now that it dawned on her.

She was safe from eye contact, but Ruby wasn't.

Crap. She could only hope that her sister didn't run into anybody else before they met up.

This may not be as easy as she thought it would be.

**AN: Now, before you ask, no, the Nuckelavee that Aqua killed was not THAT Nuckelavee, just another one.**

**So, I decided to make this chapter a little shorter because I want to hopefully cover all of initiation in one chapter without it being absolutely gargantuan. **

**I also know that the scenes that didn't feature Ruby, Yang, or Aqua played out exactly the same as canon, but I wanted to write the locker room scene from Pyrrha's perspective so you could see how cynical and a little bitter she really is.**

**So, in this chapter, we've got some first impressions, both the kind Aqua makes on the students, and the kind the students make on Aqua. Aqua made a great first impression on Nora, and Cardin made a terrible first impression on Aqua.**

**So, next time will hopefully be the whole initiation, but I may split it in half anyway if things still get too big.**

**So, as always, thank you guys so much for reading, and I'll see you all next time!**


	14. Chapter 14

**AN: Hey, everyone. I sincerely hope everyone is safe right now during these uncertain times. Thankfully, the virus hasn't reared its ugly head at my house yet, so my family is safely quarantined, but I know not everyone can be so lucky. Make sure to stay home if you can and practice social distancing if you absolutely have to leave. Stay safe.**

**Now, I want to address something that gets requested of me whenever I bring up pairings. I get asked fairly frequently to not include them because they "take away from the main plot". I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with you there. There's more to a story than just going from one plot event to another. Character development is also a very important aspect to telling a story, and relationships between characters is a part of that development. While it's still debatable exactly how good I am at developing characters, I am hoping that writing this will give me the practice I need. And let's be real here, if all there was to a story was just the plot-important moments and nothing else, than I may as well just upload a plot summary and not bother working so hard writing this.**

**So yes, romantic relationships will be included in this story if I feel they are necessary for the story I feel like telling, and there will be chapters that are devoted purely to the characters.**

**On another note, I would really like to find someone that could draw a cover image for this story, in particular what Aqua looks like in Volume 1. If anyone knows of any artists I could see about commissioning, I'd appreciate it.**

**Anyway, on with the chapter!**

**Edit: I edited Blake and Weiss's big fight later in this chapter.**

Chapter 14

Yang made a huge mistake. She protected herself from eye contact thanks to her sunglasses, but Ruby was still fair game for any random shmuck to steal away from her! She couldn't allow this! She had to make a plan. She didn't have much time to do it, either, if the quickly-approaching ground was any indication.

Okay, so she had to first land safely, avoid eye contact with anyone that wasn't Ruby, and hope that her sister wasn't taken by the time she found her. Shouldn't be too hard.

She unfolded the gauntlets on her wrists, expanding her Ember Celicas to their full form and aimed straight down, firing off a shot to use the recoil to slow her fall.

Or at least, she planned to, before she felt something slam into her and a pair of arms wrap around her protectively.

"GOTCHA!" the familiar voice of her sister yelled.

Oh, yeah. She forgot Ruby can shoot herself forward in any direction as long as she can see the target. She probably saw her when they were both flying through the air, and launched herself at Yang. The blonde smiled. Now they were guaranteed to be partners.

They just needed to land. Ruby let go, and Yang went with her original plan of using the recoil from her weapons to slow her fall. Ruby, however, just fell. While Yang had to carefully manage her momentum, making sure to slow herself down enough, her little sister just had to land. For some reason, ever since she got that Keyblade, falling never seemed to bother her. So unlike Yang, Ruby didn't need a landing strategy.

Not like Yang was jealous or anything. Nope. Not at all.

Once the sisters had landed, Yang took her sunglasses off and looked Ruby right in those big adorable silver eyes of hers. They took a second to make sure it counted, and then threw themselves into a hug.

"And we're partners," Yang said smugly. "Told ya. It's you and me."

"Except _I_ did all the work," Ruby said with a smirk. That cheeky little…

"Yeah, yeah," Yang said. "C'mon. Let's go find that temple."

"Alright," Ruby said, turning around and walking away. She took two steps before she turned back around to look sheepishly at her sister. "Uh, which way is north again?" Yang just shook her head.

"What would you do without me?" She asked playfully.

"Probably wander around the forest aimlessly." The girls laughed, but then they sensed a _very_ familiar feeling. They instantly sprung into their usual formation, back to back, while black forms appeared all around them. To most other applicants, the only black forms they would have to worry about would be the Grimm. But with Ruby and her Keyblade, they had something else entirely to worry about.

The Heartless.

Within seconds, the sisters were surrounded by Shadows.

They couldn't at least make this a challenge? She cocked her gauntlets while Ruby summoned Crescent Rose.

"You ready for this, sis?" Yang asked.

"Yup. Remember…"

"Keep your light burning strong!" they said in unison, and sprang into action.

* * *

"What are those things?" Glynda asked, as the teachers were using various displays to observe the aspiring students' performance in their initiation. "I've never seen Grimm like that before."

"They're not Grimm," Aqua informed the deputy headmistress. "They're called Heartless."

"What are those?"

"They're creatures born of the darkness in people's hearts. They're attracted to that darkness and seek to attack people and steal their hearts."

"What?!" Glynda asked, her eyes widening. She looked at the headmaster, who was looking at the screen intently. "Ozpin, we can't allow the initiation to continue with an enemy we know nothing about in play!"

"It's fine," Aqua said, waving off the blonde professor. "My girls can handle it."

"The point remains—"

"The initiation will proceed as planned," Ozpin said, still watching the sisters through the screen. "In fact, they've already handled those creatures."

"What?" Glynda asked, surprised.

"They've been training to fight those monsters their whole lives. I don't think there's anybody in that forest more qualified to fight them than those two," Aqua said proudly.

"And what if another student is attacked by these creatures?"

"That won't happen. They won't bother with anyone else if there's a Keyblade nearby. There's nothing to worry about. They can handle themselves. It's a good thing that Ruby partnered up with Yang. This way, she doesn't have to worry about protecting someone else." Plus, Aqua found it amusing that her daughters had bent the rules to make sure they partnered up.

"And another thing," Glynda said, "I don't approve of those two disregarding the rules of partnership and stacking the odds in their favor."

"Hey, it's not like they're the only ones that did it that way," Aqua said, pointing to the screen that showed the blonde boy dangling from a tree with a spear impaled through his hood (HA!) as the red-haired girl approached him. "That girl literally snagged him out of the air."

"Ah, yes, Miss Nikos," Ozpin said. "It appears she's taken a liking to Mister Arc."

"With his transcripts and her tournament record, they may prove a formidable duo, their bending of the rules notwithstanding," Glynda said.

Yeah, Aqua seriously doubted that. With how sloppy his fall was, he was clearly unprepared to land safely, so this Nikos girl likely just pinned him to the tree to save his life, and retrieving her weapon required her to partner up with him.

And no, she wasn't just biased against him because he puked on her. Not entirely, anyway. Maybe he'd surprise her.

"So, any other interesting pairs?" The blue-haired Master asked.

"Yes, it seems Miss Schnee is about to meet up with someone that would meet your criteria for 'interesting'", the headmaster said with a sly grin.

* * *

Blake's bow twitched in response to the sound of fighting nearby. Well, her _bow_ didn't twitch so much as the cat ears hidden underneath it did. Another student had engaged the Grimm, it sounded like. While she really would prefer to fly solo (a certain _someone_ had completely soured the concept of "partnership" for her), if her staying at Beacon required her to partner up with someone, then despite her misgivings, it was likely in her best interest to see who this beleaguered student was and partner up with them. She followed the sounds of combat and came across a field, with a single student surrounded by Beowolves. She reached over her shoulder to grab her weapon, Gambol Shroud, when she got a look at the student that she was about to assist.

_Oh, come on_, Blake thought. Of all people for her to run into first, it _had _to be Weiss Schnee? Bake relaxed her grip on her weapon and moved to turn around. She could find someone else to partner with. Maybe that girl from the night before? The fellow bookworm? Or maybe her sister? The Schnee could probably handle herself. Blake was sure the rich girl had the best tutors money could buy and—

Why was she just standing there? Why wasn't she attacking? Hold on, was she _adjusting her stance_ in the middle of a fight?

This girl was going to get herself killed.

Blake made to step in and help her, but she hesitated again. This was _Weiss Schnee_. Her family was at the center of Faunus oppression. During her White Fang days, nothing got people riled up like mentioning that family's name. Why should Blake help the heiress to such a family? If it weren't for her family's influence, maybe some real progress could be made towards Faunus equality. If it weren't for her family, the White Fang might not have turned violent, and it would still be the proud organization her father founded. If it weren't for her family's lax safety standards for Faunus workers, maybe Ilia's parents would still be alive. And if it weren't for them, then maybe Ad—

No. Don't mention his name.

Blake's line of thought reminded her of the obvious. While the White Fang loved to think it was the case, none of that was directly the heiress's fault. It was her family. There was no guarantee that she felt the same way as them. If she was going to give herself a fresh start from the White Fang, then she needed to stop thinking like them. She _needed_ to start giving people the benefit of the doubt.

Besides, leaving the Schnee to the Grimm is what _he_ would have done. After everything he did to her, everything he _took_ from her, she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of making the same decision as him. She _wasn't_ him. It's why she left in the first place.

With renewed determination, she drew her weapon and folded it back into pistol form. The heiress had finally decided to attack, and had coated her rapier in Burn Dust, thrusting it at a Beowolf right in front of her. She was able to kill it, but didn't see another Grimm attacking her right side. Blake fired her pistol at that one, hitting it in the head and killing it. The heiress jumped in surprise at the gunshot, not expecting another student to be helping her, which stupidly left her wide open to another Beowolf behind her. Blake threw her weapon in the direction of the heiress, wrapping the ribbon around her waist, and yanking her away from the Grimm. The white-haired girl gave an indignant squawk as she landed rather inelegantly on her backside, glaring up at Blake.

"Ugh, it's _you_," she said in disgust. Yup, Blake was regretting this already.

"We can talk later," she said simply in response. "Right now, we fight." She gave a quick tug on her weapon's ribbon, returning it to her hand and extending it to katana mode. She grabbed the sheathe with her left hand that doubled as a cleaver, and took her usual combat stance. The Schnee stood up, dusted herself off, and raised her rapier. The two girls charged at the Grimm, and after a few short minutes, the Beowolves were all taken care of. Blake sheathed her weapon and turned to look at her new partner, who really didn't look happy.

"What, have you come to bad-mouth my family again?" The heiress asked, hands on her hips.

Well, so much for benefit of the doubt. Screw it.

"Are you always this bitchy when someone helps you, or am I special?"

"Excuse me?!" the Schnee screeched. "After the things _you_ said about _my_ family, I think I'm entirely justified! Besides, I didn't need nor ask for your help!"

"I wouldn't have said it if it wasn't true," Blake countered. "And I wouldn't have helped if I didn't think you needed it. You're welcome, by the way." And with that, she walked off.

"Where do you think you're going?!" the girl shouted.

"To find the temple. We have to pass initiation, don't you remember, _partner_? Now, do you wanna stop screeching before every Grimm in the forest comes after us?" The Schnee huffed and stomped after her.

So much regret.

* * *

"I wonder about your definition of 'interesting'," Aqua told the headmaster. "This looks more 'problematic' than 'interesting'. What's their problem?"

"I assume you're familiar with Miss Schnee?" Ozpin asked.

"I know my girls got into at least two separate arguments with her. Other than that, I'm familiar with her family."

"And their reputation?"

"I've heard things. Qrow's had some very unflattering things to say about Jacques. What does that have to do with anything?"

"Miss Schnee's new partner is named Blake Belladonna."

"Okay?" Aqua said uncertainly. Ozpin had said that name as if she was supposed to recognize it.

"While she has not confirmed it, we strongly suspect that her father is Ghira Belladonna," Glynda explained.

"And that is?"

"Ghira was the founder and original leader of the White Fang," Ozpin said matter-of-factly.

"Oh," Aqua said. And then it dawned on her. "Oooooooh. So we have the daughter of the man widely considered to be at the heart of the anti-Faunus movement partnered up with the daughter of the man that founded a pro-Faunus extremist group. Any particular reason you don't seem very concerned about this?"

"All we know is that she's likely Ghira's daughter. However, he is not responsible for the White Fang's turn to violence. He stepped down five years ago precisely because Sienna Khan's more violent approach was gaining popularity and he wanted nothing to do with the organization he helped to create. She is now the one holding the reins. As for where the young Miss Belladonna stands on the issue, I think the fact that she chose to help Miss Schnee rather than leave her to her fate speaks volumes of her character."

"Even still, we will be keeping an eye on her," Glynda said. "The fact that she appeared at Beacon disguising herself as a human could be a sign of more sinister intentions."

"Or she could be avoiding discrimination," Aqua said, coming to the young Faunus's defense.

"Only time will tell, I suppose," Ozpin said, taking a sip from his mug.

* * *

"Thorn!" Ruby yelled, impaling a Beowolf with rose stems. It staggered, allowing Yang to blast it with her gauntlet, causing the monster to disappear into ash. She stepped inside the guard of an Ursa as it raised its claws, punching it in the knee with a shotgun blast. It fell onto the injured knee, and Yang followed it up with a fiery uppercut to the beast's chin. Ruby sped past her with her Semblance, her Keyblade transformed into scythe mode, and sliced the Ursa clean in two. The sisters quickly stood next to each other, staring down the remaining Ursa and two Beowolves. The beasts growled, and then a familiar pool of darkness appeared in front of the girls. From out of the pool climbed four Neoshadows. Yang cursed under her breath. This was about to get complicated.

And then the Heartless and Grimm completely ignored the sisters and turned on each other. Two of the Neoshadows jumped onto the Ursa and started wrestling with it, and the remaining Neoshadows each took a Beowolf.

Okay, this wasn't what she meant by "complicated", but she'd take it.

"Ruby, let's go!" she shouted.

"What?!" Ruby asked. "We can take them!"

"But why bother fighting them when we can just let them fight each other? Let's not waste time."

"Ugh, fine!" Ruby groaned, dismissing her Keyblade, and leaving with her sister.

* * *

"It appears the last pair has been formed, sir," Glynda said, observing the ginger girl and her supposedly not-boyfriend from the night of orientation. "Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren," she reported. "That poor boy. I can't possibly imagine those two getting along."

"You'd be surprised," Aqua said with a small laugh. "I actually had the opportunity to meet those two. They'll try to deny it, but I have never seen two people more in love." Well, besides herself and Qrow, of course.

"Well in that case, he's definitely doing better than Miss Nikos." Aqua looked at the screen to see that the pair was still wandering the forest after they had to stop to _unlock his Aura_.

"What's that boy's name?" Aqua asked.

"That would be Jaune Arc," Ozpin informed her.

"You guys noticed that he just unlocked his Aura, right?" she asked the other two professors.

"Yes, we did," Glynda said. "His transcripts were flawless, but there seems to be a major discrepancy."

"Yeah, I'll say." Ozpin said nothing and continued watching the displays. "There's no way that he went to a combat school without his Aura unlocked."

"He's clearly not ready for this level of combat," Glynda agreed. "What do you want to do about this, Ozpin?"

"Nothing for now," Ozpin answered, still looking at the screen. "We will wait and see. He just might surprise us."

* * *

Blake leaned up against a tree with her arms crossed in front of her, an annoyed scowl on her face as she watched the Schnee heiress- her new _partner_\- stomp back and forth.

"It's this way," she said, walking past Blake for what felt like the fifth time. "No, wait, I mean it's this way!" she said, walking in the other direction. "It's definitely this way!" Blake raised an incredibly skeptical eyebrow the Schnee's way, and the heiress finally stopped pacing and stood in front of her. "Okay, we passed it!"

"You know I won't think less of you if you just admit that you don't know where you're going, right?" Blake asked. Well, any less of her than she already did.

"I know _exactly_ where we're going!" Schnee said, and Blake raised another eyebrow at her. "We're going to…the forest temple!" she announced uncertainly. Blake rolled her eyes. "Oh please, it's not like you know where we're going either."

"North is that way," she said, pointing in the direction indicated.

"Wh—? How?" The heiress stammered.

"It's still morning, so if the sun is on the right, you're going north."

"Well, why didn't you tell me that sooner?!" Weiss yelled.

"I figured since you're _clearly_ so much better than me, you wouldn't need my help. You sure don't seem to want it." Plus, she couldn't help but find the sight of the heiress struggling and failing more than a little satisfying.

"What is your problem with me?"

"Where do you want me to start?"

"What is THAT supposed to mean?!"

"Listen, _Weiss_," she practically spat. "I don't know what you expected when you came to Beacon, but you're clearly not ready."

"How dare—"

"You don't have servants to wait on you hand and foot."

"That's not—"

"You're fighting real monsters with real stakes. If you mess up, you die and no one will praise you for trying."

"The nerve—"

"And if you get lost, you can't just make a Faunus sniff it out for you!"

"YOU DON"T KNOW ME!" Weiss yelled. "Just stop talking! You know nothing about me!"

"Oh, I don't, huh?!" Blake yelled back, matching Weiss's volume. "All I've seen from you is a spoiled little rich girl who can't do anything for herself! Newsflash, Princess: YOU'RE NOT PERFECT!"

"I KNOW I'M NOT!" Weiss roared, taking Blake aback. "Trust me, I'm _very _aware that I'm not perfect," she said more quietly, her fingers unconsciously tracing the scar over her eye. Blake's own eyes widened. "I had to face more hardship and adversity than you know to get here. I was never even 'good enough', let alone 'perfect'. So don't you dare accuse me of not taking this seriously, because being here means everything to me!" Blake's eyes narrowed again.

"Oh, yes, please tell me all about the hardships you had to endure from your _mansion_," she said derisively. She was a _Schnee_. Not only that, she was their _heiress_. She was set to inherit the company and fortune of the single richest family in all of Remnant, and she had the audacity to claim that she had in any way _suffered_?! She was sure _Daddy_ had spared no expense for his little angel, giving her the best tutors and trainers his blood money could buy, and yet the girl's combat skills were still lacking. That told Blake more than words ever could about how seriously the heiress was taking becoming a Huntress.

The now red-faced heiress was about to say something in response when they heard a loud screech from above them. The two girls looked up and saw an absolutely _massive_ Nevermore flying overhead. They must have given off so much negativity from their argument that it drew this thing towards them!

"Run!" Blake yelled as the Nevermore swooped down. The girls started to sprint away from the monster, but they were too slow, and the white-haired girl was scooped up in its talon. "Weiss!" Blake called out to her partner.

"Help!" Weiss yelled. Blake threw her weapon in sickle mode at the large black bird, snagging it in the back. The creature flew up, taking the two girls into the air with it, Weiss helpless in its claw, and Blake trailing behind it from her weapon's ribbon.

* * *

Ruby and Yang finally came out in a clearing, and were immediately greeted with the sight of a large stone circle with wrecked pieces of stonework scattered around. Arranged in a semicircle in the center of the clearing was several stone pillars, each one with either a black or gold miniature statue on top.

"I think we found the place," Yang said as the sisters approached the pillars. They took a closer look at the objects on top of them, and quickly recognized what they were supposed to be.

"Are these chess pieces?" Ruby asked. Sure enough, she recognized some of the pieces from the chess set back home. Dad had tried to get them into it, but the sisters had always found it too boring. She could see knights, rooks, bishops and pawns, clearly there were two of each piece in both colors, just like a real chess set. But, there were some empty podiums. "You think these are the relics?"

"Must be," Yang said. "I can't think of any other reasons for these things to be in the middle of the forest. But, look, some of them are missing. Guess we weren't the first ones here."

"Aw, man," Ruby said, slumping her shoulders in disappointment.

"But I wonder why we have to grab chess pieces."

"Don't know. Which one should we take?" Ruby asked, and Yang walked up to a golden Knight piece, her hands on her hips as she scrutinized it. Finally, she picked it up and held it for Ruby to see.

"How about a cute little pony?" She said playfully.

"Yeah, that works," Ruby said with a smile.

"So, I guess we just head back to the cliff and we're officially students at Beacon," Yang said triumphantly.

"You know, this was really easy," Ruby observed.

"Please don't say that," Yang scolded her. "You say that and then some crazy shit's gonna happen." Just then, they heard a high-pitched scream off in the distance and Yang threw her arms up in frustration. "See? Because you _had_ to comment on how easy this was, now some girl's in trouble."

"Well, how was I supposed to know—" The sisters heard another noise directly above them, and looked up to see what it was. Much to their astonishment, it was a very familiar white-clad girl _falling from the freaking sky_.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Yang said.

"Okay, that one totally wasn't me."

* * *

_A few minutes earlier…_

"Weiss, are you okay?!" Blake asked while still dangling by the ribbon from a giant Nevermore.

"What do you think?!" The heiress screamed back from her position in between the claws of the massive bird. The way the Grimm was holding her had pinned her arms to her sides, so she couldn't free herself from its grip. "Help!"

"I'm trying!" Blake yelled back, climbing up her ribbon to try to get on the creature's back. "Just hold on!"

"Like I can do anything else!"

Where had Blake gone wrong? She came to Beacon in the hopes of atoning for her mistakes in the White Fang, and now she was partnered up with the Schnee heiress of all people. The same Schnee heiress that she was now trying to rescue from the clutches of a giant Nevermore by climbing on top of it several hundred feet in the air.

Was it too late to go back to the White Fang? She was sure she could come up with some excuse to make them forgive her.

Yeah, right.

She finished climbing up her ribbon and finally was on the creature's back, holding on to the weapon embedded in the beast's flesh and grabbing her cleaver off her back. She raised it up and slashed at the creature, but it didn't seem to bother it at all. All she really needed to do was force it to let go of Weiss, and then they could just employ their landing strategies again, but if the Nevermore wasn't budging when she slashed at it, then she would need to try a different approach. She gave her ribbon some slack, and kept the blade embedded in the creature's back. She used it to swing down to the bird's leg, where it was still holding her partner captive. She lifted her cleaver with her left hand again.

"You have a landing strategy, right?!" She asked.

"Oh, don't you dare—"

Weiss's protests were cut short when Blake slashed at the Nevermore's leg, finally succeeding in getting it to release the Schnee heiress from it's clutches. The girl, in response, simply fell back down to earth, screaming the whole way.

* * *

"Weiss, don't worry, I'll catch you!" Ruby shouted up to the girl from below her. She had no idea what happened to the white-clad girl that resulted in her falling from the sky, but she did know that even with Aura, she might not survive a fall from that height. So she focused her attention and prepared to rocket herself towards the girl, when something slammed into the falling heiress in mid-air, sending her flying sideways into a nearby treeline.

"Huh?" Ruby exclaimed as the girl she was just trying to save seemed to completely disappear.

"What the hell was that?" Yang asked.

"I don't know," Ruby said uncertainly, but a rumbling nearby caused the sisters to snap to the side, just in time to see an Ursa crash through the forest. They raised their weapons, but the beast simply groaned and fell forward, revealing the ginger-haired chatterbox whooping and hollering on its back. As it collapsed, she rolled forward, landing in front of it.

"Aw, I broke it," she said in disappointment. Hold on, the Grimm were the things that Huntsmen and Huntresses have sworn an oath to destroy, and this girl was disappointed that she had killed one?

She was certainly…different.

The girl examined the dead Ursa while a black-haired boy in green stepped out from behind the creature, leaning on its body to catch his breath.

"Nora," he said between gasps. "Please…Don't ever do that again." Sadly for him, she didn't hear him as she had already sped past the girls and walked up to one of the stone pillars, looking at a golden Rook like it was the most fascinating thing in the world, before she picked it up, balanced it on her head, and started singing.

"I'm queen of the castle, I'm queen of the castle!" Ruby and Yang could only watch her in silence.

What _was_ this girl?

"NORA!" the black-haired boy yelled in a stern tone.

"Coming, Ren!" she called back playfully.

* * *

_Ow, what hit me_? Weiss thought as she tried to shake the daze from her head. How dare that partner of hers do that to her? Letting her fall like that! The Headmaster would hear about this! She would get her partner changed if it was the last thing she did! Looking around, she saw she was in a tree for some reason. She tried to get up, but found that she couldn't move for some reason. Looking down, she saw a pair of arms wrapped protectively around her stomach, pinning her back against the chest of the person the arms belonged to. Looking behind her, she was met a sickeningly familiar shock of blond hair.

"Phew, good thing I caught you. Are you okay?" Jaune asked. His back was up against the tree they were sitting in, and as Weiss had observed earlier, his arms were wrapped around her stomach, holding her against him. And the worst part? She was _sitting in his lap_.

IN. HIS. LAP!

"Fine," she grumbled. "Let me go, now."

"Are you sure?"

What the hell kind of question was _that_? Of course she was sure she wanted him to let her go!

"Of course I'm sure. Let go," she said more forcefully this time, trying to wiggle out of his grip. Frustratingly, the bastard just seemed to _tighten_ his grip in response!

"Are you really okay?"

What did this boy think was going to happen? That she would be so filled with gratitude to him for saving her that she'd just take her dress off and let him take her right then and there? Luckily, Winter had shown her just what to do in this kind of situation.

"I said, LET GO, you degenerate!" she yelled, sending her elbow flying backwards into his stomach, forcing him to loosen his grip around her stomach. She pushed off of him, and sent her foot backwards into his groin, causing his mouth to emit a high-pitched whimper. He grabbed the injured area, and limply fell out of the tree, Weiss jumping down far more gracefully. She saw a group of people nearby, and she walked towards them, leaving the blond boy behind on the ground.

* * *

Ruby turned around at the sound of stomping heels and saw Weiss approaching the group of students.

"Ugh, of course it's you people," Weiss complained, walking up to the stone pillars and grabbing the second golden Knight. "I am so ready for this initiation to be over."

"Weiss, where's your partner?" Ruby asked. In response, Weiss simply pointed up at the giant Nevermore still circling the clearing. "Oh."

"What the hell happened to you two?" Yang asked.

"I don't want to talk about it." Ruby walked to the center of the clearing, looked straight up at where Weiss's partner supposedly was, and cupped her hands around her mouth.

"Jump!" she yelled. "I'll catch you!" It turned out that Weiss's partner didn't have much of a choice on the matter, as the Nevermore violently bucked and threw her off its back. Just like she attempted to do with Weiss, Ruby narrowed her vision, and locked on to the falling girl. Using her Semblance, she rocketed towards her, wrapped her arms around her, and then with another burst of her Semblance, the two of them were back on the ground. Ruby placed the girl down on the ground next, to her and she was finally able to see that it was Blake, who looked dazed. "Oh, hey Blake!" she said cheerfully. "You're Weiss's partner?"

"Uh, yeah?" Blake said uncertainly, still trying to get her bearings. "Ruby? What just happened?"

"Oh, that was my Semblance. I have super speed."

"Right," Blake said, walking towards Weiss. "Are you okay?" she asked her partner.

"Yes, no thanks to you," she snapped back.

"Oh, whatever," Blake groaned. Another rumbling sound caught the group's attention, and Ruby saw the red-headed girl Jaune and Weiss were talking to earlier sprint out of the forest with her weapons drawn. And right behind her…

Was probably the biggest Deathstalker Ruby had ever seen in her young life.

The scorpion-like Grimm was clearly old, and by old, she meant _old_, if the armor almost completely covering its body was any indication.

"Pyrrha!" she heard Jaune call out from behind her.

"Jaune!" the girl called back, raising her shield to block a strike from the giant Grimm's claw. The force of the impact sent her flying backwards, however, and she landed on her stomach next to Ruby. Yang sent her sister a glare.

"You just _had_ to comment on how easy this was, didn't you?" Yang asked angrily.

"Come on, I got this," Ruby said confidently, summoning her Keyblade. She used her Semblance to propel herself towards the giant scorpion, weapon raised to strike.

Before she could reach it, however, a pool of darkness opened up underneath the monster's feet, and a pitch-black, _gargantuan_ arm reached out, grabbed the Deathstalker, and pulled in into the darkness. Ruby stopped dead in her tracks, looking at the pool in fear as she heard a sickening _crunch_ sound. And then, after a few seconds of silence, the hand reached back out, and pulled the rest of the body out with it.

It could only be described as a giant, its formerly pitch-black body now covered in bright purple veins. It had short, stubby legs, and very long, muscular arms that almost reached the ground despite the monster standing upright. Black tendrils sprouted from atop its head in some mockery of hair, and wrapped around its lower face, almost like a scarf. A gaping, heart-shaped hole was prominently displayed in the center of its chest, and its piercing yellow eyes were looking right at the young Keybearer.

"What?!" she exclaimed. This was a Heartless that Mom had only ever told her about. It was the strongest Heartless that she knew of, one that she had expressly been told to run from if she ever saw one.

It was a Darkside.

**AN: I know I said last chapter that I wanted to do all of initiation in one chapter, but I felt this was a fantastic cliffhanger ending, and I got impatient and wanted to upload.**

**Now some people were anticipating that I was going to change up the teams, but I decided from the minute I started writing this that it would still be Teams RWBY and JNPR. However, it also made sense with the abilities that I gave Ruby that she'd be able to guarantee that she partners with Yang, especially since them partnering up was also Yang's plan. Thus that left Weiss and Blake as partners, which, while still being Team RWBY, completely changes the team dynamic. Time will tell how this affects their time at Beacon...**

**Since the Beacon Initiation is technically the start of Ruby's journey, I figured this was the perfect place to have her fight a Darkside, since it parallels the beginning of Sora's journey in the first game, when a Darkside showed up during the destruction of the Destiny Islands. I just thought it would be a nice touch to have the Darkside completely replace the fight with the Deathstalker and Nevermore. More Heartless will show up, too, by the way, so look forward to this fight.**

**Just in case it wasn't quite clear, the reason why the Darkside has purple veins along its body is because it absorbed the Deathstalker. This was meant to establish that not only do the Grimm and Heartless instinctively fight each other, the Heartless can absorb them to become stronger. Mostly to help raise the threat level of the Heartless a little bit.**

**So next time will be the future Teams RWBY and JNPR against powered-up Heartless. **

**As always, thank you guys so much for reading, and I'll see you next time!**


	15. Chapter 15

**AN: Christ in a hand basket, I did not expect this chapter to take this god damn long to write. I am so sorry about that. For some reason, this chapter gave me a lot of trouble, and I'm still not entirely sure that I'm satisfied with how it ended up. It turns out that action chapters are really hard to write. **

**I also would like to answer a review left by supernoob257. I couldn't PM you to answer you, so I'll do it here. Last chapter, when Jaune caught and then held on to Weiss, that scene was written from Weiss's perspective. She assumes the worst of Jaune's intentions towards her, which is why that scene made him look so bad. After she said she was fine and asked him to let her go, he asked "Are you sure?". What he meant was "Are you sure you're okay?", but she thought he meant "Are you sure you want me to let go?". Since Jaune is fairly oblivious, he didn't realize how it looked to her. Hope that clears it up. I'm not making Jaune actually a creep. Weiss just thinks he is.**

**Anyway, on with the chapter!**

Chapter 15

"No, no, no, no, no," Aqua said, staring at the screen in horror. "What's one of those doing here?"

"Is that a Heartless?" Glynda asked in concern.

"It's a Darkside," Aqua answered, stepping away from the screen and towards the cliff. "I have to get down there."

"Aqua," Ozpin called to her, making her pause. "Do you not believe the students can handle it?"

"I don't believe they can't, I _know_ they can't. _I_ can barely handle one of those things, and this one looks different than the last one I fought." And _that_ one had leveled half a village before Aqua managed to kill it. She didn't want to even imagine what this one might be capable of.

"Then go," Ozpin said. "Make sure those students are safe."

"That's the plan," she said, taking a step off the cliff and falling into the forest.

_Please, Ruby_, she thought on the way down, _Please hold out until I get there_.

* * *

Ruby backed away from the Darkside in fear, its yellow eyes staring straight into her silver ones.

"-by!" she thought she heard something behind her. "Ruby!" Yang's voice called out in concern, finally snapping the young Keybearer out of her shock. She raised her Keyblade in unsteady hands, and she could swear its eyes narrowed at her weapon. It raised a massive fist, and Ruby brought her weapon up in a defensive position, but the Darkside was forced to stop its intended attack on the red-clad girl when large black feathers impacted its back.

Oh, right. There was still a Nevermore flying overhead.

The Darkside turned around to face the massive bird, and Ruby took advantage of the situation to run back to the others in a burst of Semblance. As soon as she stopped moving, she was pulled into Yang's protective embrace.

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" she said to her sister to reassure her that she was okay.

"What the hell is one of those things doing here?" her sister asked in distress.

"I don't know, but we need to do something!"

"How? Mom can't even take one of these things!"

"I don't know, let me think!" Ruby shouted, almost on the verge of panicking.

"What is that thing?" Blake asked from next to the sisters.

"It's called a Darkside," Yang said.

"And it's very, very, very bad," Ruby continued.

"What kind of Grimm is that?" Weiss asked, fear evident in her voice.

"It's way worse than a Grimm," Ruby said, earning a shocked look from the heiress.

"What does that mean?" the black-haired boy, Ren if she heard the ginger girl correctly, asked.

"MOVE!" said ginger girl suddenly yelled, causing the group to dive out of the way of the Nevermore's body slamming into the ground, as the Darkside had grabbed it by the tail and swung it at the group of teenagers like a club.

_Why are they fighting each other?_ Ruby thought.

"Is it on our side?" Nora, Ruby thought the ginger's name was, asked. "It's killing the Grimm for us.

"Trust us, it's not our side," Yang said.

"Have you fought one of these things before?" Weiss asked, but before either of the sisters could answer, they noticed the dazed Nevermore start to stir. Before it could get up, however, a jagged-looking sword suddenly impaled it in the middle of its torso. Ruby's eyes widened when she saw the sword. It looked very familiar. Exactly what type of monster it belonged to was confirmed when several small purple fireballs converged around the sword, merging to form the black body of an Invisible.

"Oh, come on," she heard Yang complain next to her. The Invisible grabbed the handle of its sword and roughly twisted it, causing the Nevermore to flail violently in pain, letting a loud screech out of its beak. The Heartless yanked its sword out of the bird's chest, lifting its body off the ground slightly, before decapitating it in a single fast movement. The Nevermore's body started to dissolve like all Grimm do, but the Invisible raised its unarmed left hand, and a swarm of black particles were absorbed into it, causing purple veins to appear along the Invisible's body, similar to the Darkside.

"Did it just…absorb the Grimm?" Pyrrha asked in fear.

"Uh, since when can the Heartless do that?" Yang asked, raising her gauntlets defensively as she saw the Invisible turn towards the group. The Nevermore had finished dissolving beneath its feet, but it simply hovered at the same elevation.

"I don't know, that's new," Ruby said frantically, watching as the Darkside raised its right fist high into the air. A bright light briefly flashed from its hand, before slamming it into the ground. And it went _into_ the ground, sprouting a pool of darkness around its fist that had embedded itself into the ground. Within seconds, a small group of Shadows emerged from the pulsating pool. A gunshot rang out, and one of the Shadows disappeared in a puff of black smoke. Ruby turned to see Pyrrha, her rifle raised.

"Those things seem to go down easy enough," the red-haired warrior observed.

"They aren't what I'm worried about," Ruby said, observing the area around them. The clearing was relatively small, and had nothing that could be used as cover from aerial attacks, which she knew the Darkside could do. "We can't fight them here," she told the group. "We have to find somewhere with more cover."

"Where?" Jaune asked.

"The Emerald Forest is supposed to be covered in ruins," the green boy said. "I'm sure we could find some to use."

"That's my Renny!" The ginger girl said happily. And then the Invisible threw its sword to the ground and turned itself into small purple flames. Ruby knew what that meant. She frantically looked around to see who its target was, only for Weiss's voice to grab her attention.

"What the-?" the heiress exclaimed. Sure enough, the purple flames had surrounded her, and in a burst of Semblance, Ruby picked her up and carried her out of the way just before the flames would have hit her. "What was that?"

"That thing can turn itself into flames," Ruby explained. "When they surround you, that means they're going to hit you. You need to be careful if you get surrounded by those flames." She looked over to the Darkside, and saw that it was on its knees, bent slightly backwards. There was a glow emanating from the hole in its chest, and with a small explosion, a group of red orbs of darkness flew straight at Ruby. Before she could react, Weiss threw herself in front of the Keybearer, raising her hand, and summoning a white, snowflake-shaped glyph to appear in front of them, the orbs dissipating harmlessly when they impacted it.

"Thanks," Ruby said to the heiress.

"It's only fair," she replied simply.

"Ruby!" Yang called, and Ruby looked towards her just as her sister punched a Shadow out of existence. "We need to leave! Now!" Ruby took a look around the field. Pyrrha had blocked a swing from the Invisible's sword with her shield, and Nora swung a giant hammer at it, but it raised its sword back up to block it, causing it to slide backwards for a few feet, but nothing more.

"Everyone!" she shouted. "Break off and let's run!"

"I can get behind that!" Jaune yelled, swinging wildly at a Shadow before Ren shot it with what looked like green machine pistols.

"Did you get a relic?" Ren asked the blond knight, who shook his head before running and grabbing the other rook piece.

"Okay, let's go!" the boy called out, and the group of eight students disengaged and sprinted into the forest, the Heartless hot on their tails.

* * *

Aqua slashed through yet another Shadow foolish enough to get in her way, not breaking her sprint.

_Something's very wrong here_, she thought as she ran through the forest. _Why would a Darkside show up now? And why did it look so different?_ She looked ahead and saw another group of Shadows attempting to block her path.

"Out of my way!" she shouted, raising her Keyblade.

* * *

"Get down!" Ruby shouted, grabbing Jaune and ducking inside a ruined building to hide from another barrage of darkness from the Darkside. The group of eight had come out of the forest into a large ravine full of ruined structures, with a bridge leading to a tower in the middle of the crevice. All in all, it was a location she felt much more comfortable fighting the Darkside in, as the ruined buildings surrounding them provided great cover for the projectiles the giant Heartless fired at them.

"How do we fight this thing?" Jaune asked, leaning up against the wall of the building to catch his breath from running so long.

"I don't know," Ruby admitted. "I've heard about these things from my mom, but I've never fought one myself. She actually told me to run if I ever saw one."

"I mean, you did do that," he said, seemingly trying to reassure the Keybearer who was now on the verge of a panic attack.

"Yeah, but it chased us." At that moment, the Invisible appeared in front of them, its sword raised to swing at Jaune. The blond boy didn't see it coming, so Ruby pushed him out of the way. However, she couldn't get her own defense up in time, causing the Heartless's sword to slam into her, causing her Aura to flare up, and sending her outside the safety of the ruins. She looked up to see the fist of the Darkside rapidly approaching. But before it could hit her, she was scooped up into the arms of a familiar black-haired girl. Blake quickly carried her into another building, where Yang and Nora were waiting.

"Ruby!" Yang yelled in concern.

"I'm fine," Ruby said. "Thanks Blake."

"We need a plan," Blake said.

"Where's Ren?" Nora asked in concern.

"I saw him duck into another building with Weiss and Pyrrha," Yang reassured the ginger, causing Nora to let out a sigh of relief.

"And Jaune is…" Ruby started, but was interrupted when the boy in question landed next to her with a yelp. "Oh, there he is."

"I'm okay," he said weakly, before picking himself up.

"Ruby, think," Yang said. "Did Mom ever tell you anything about fighting one of those big guys?"

"Um, I think she said something about going for the head."

"Okay, how do we get to it?"

"I don't know."

"What if we bring it down?" Jaune suggested.

"What do you mean?" Blake asked.

"Instead of climbing up to get to its head, we bring its head down to us."

"That could work," Yang said.

"Are you telling me we need to break its legs?!" Nora asked excitedly.

"Uh, yes?" Ruby said uncertainly.

"I'm in!" Nora yelled, gripping her hammer tightly with a manic smile on her face.

"Um, okay…" Blake said.

"So, Yang, if Jaune, Blake, and I keep its arms busy, can you and Nora go for the legs?" Ruby asked.

"You got it, sis," Yang said, cocking her gauntlets.

"Wait, me?" Jaune asked nervously.

"Yes, you, Vomit Boy," Yang said, sending a warning glare his way that he better not chicken out.

"We'll be there to back you up," Blake said.

"Wait, what about the Invisible?" Yang asked.

"I don't see it," Ruby said, peeking her head out from behind their cover. "Maybe it's fighting the others?"

"They might need some help, then," Yang said.

"Ren can handle it," Nora said with confidence. "He can do anything."

"I'm still gonna go check on them," Ruby said, taking off in a burst of Semblance.

* * *

Pyrrha ducked under a swing from the weird monster's sword while Ren fired at it with his machine pistols. Taking a leap backwards, she cleared the way for Weiss to use her glyphs to shoot a few fireballs at the creature. She had fought Grimm before, but nothing had ever prepared her to fight something like this. Because of the pitch-black body, she had initially assumed that it was some kind of Grimm, but that girl with the red cape had called it something different, a "Heartless" if she remembered correctly. She watched as the creature used its sword to effortlessly swat the fireballs away, her eyes narrowing at the creature. She suddenly heard a whoosh next to her, and saw the girl appear next to her in a flurry of rose petals.

"Guys!" she called, and the monster stopped engaging with Ren and Weiss and immediately turned around to face her. "Oh, no." She raised her left hand and summoned the weirdest weapon Pyrrha had ever seen. It looked vaguely like a sword, but had a large rose at one end, presumably the business end. Wait, back up. She _summoned_ that weapon. Where the hell did it come from? She pointed the weird weapon at the monster and shouted, "Petal!" A wave of rose petals shot out of the tip of her weapon (seriously, what was this girl's Semblance?) and towards the monster. However, the Heartless flew towards her, spinning almost like a drill, scattering the rose petals without any of them hitting it. "Oh, crap!" she exclaimed, as the monster slammed into her, knocking her outside of the safety of the building. Pyrrha tried to run after her, but the creature's sword suddenly appearing in her face stopped her from helping the girl.

* * *

Ruby slid to a stop outside the building, looking up to see the Darkside looming over her. She could hear her sister call her name in concern, and she prepared to run back to her when a new enemy sprung up from the ground right in front of her. It was a Neoshadow, and just like the Darkside and Invisible, it was covered in glowing purple veins. It took a swipe at her with its claws, but Ruby ducked under them. However, before she could react, a large hand snatched her up and lifted her off the ground.

The Darkside held her right up to its face, its fingers pinning her arms to her sides. It narrowed its eyes at her in what could only be described as pure hatred.

And then it started squeezing.

Her aura would protect her from the crushing pressure, she knew, but it could only hold out for so long. Once it broke, she had no doubt that this monster would easily crush her to death. She started to squirm in the creature's grip, desperately trying to wiggle her way out, but it just seemed to make the Heartless squeeze tighter. She looked at the monster in fear, when she heard her sister's voice.

"RUBY!"

* * *

Yang only saw red.

That creature, that _monster_ had her little sister!

"RUBY!" she screamed, instinctively activating her Semblance, her hair practically setting on fire and her eye color changing from lilac from crimson. She fired her gauntlets behind her to launch herself forward, ignoring the voice of Blake telling her to stop.

She wouldn't stop.

That thing had her sister.

She wouldn't stop until she had obliterated it.

She charged straight ahead at the Darkside, and despite knowing how stupid such a tactic was, she found that she just didn't care. She had no intention of stopping her bull rush until a movement of black out of the corner of her eye forced her to stop long enough to block the claws of a Neoshadow with her left gauntlet. She growled.

How _dare_ this thing get between her and her sister!

She roared and threw a punch with her right hand, firing off a shot from Ember Celica at the same time, impacting the Heartless in the face with the impact of a shotgun. The creature staggered backwards, but didn't disappear. Growling again, she reared back her left fist to punch it again, but she felt something grab hold of her arm. She looked and saw another purple-veined Neoshadow had a firm grip on her wrist.

"Let go!" she yelled, swinging her arm forward as hard as she could to try and throw it off. Its grip held firm, and instead the first Neoshadow grabbed hold of her other arm. She felt something slam into her back and tackle her the ground, one Neoshadow holding each of her arms outstretched, one pinning down her torso, and another pressing her face up against the ground. "Get the fuck off me!" she yelled, thrashing wildly. She only managed to shake off the Heartless holding her head, and was able to look up at her sister, still struggling in the Darkside's grasp. "RUBY!"

* * *

Ruby could only watch helplessly from the Darkside's grasp as she watched her older sister be captured by the Neoshadows. Her eyes widened in horror as she saw the Invisible approached the restrained Yang with its sword raised.

"No," she said quietly, tears starting to form in her eyes. Her sister was in trouble and she couldn't do anything to help her. She started struggling even harder in the Darkside's grip, but still couldn't get loose. "Yang!" she yelled in desperation. She had to do _something_! She couldn't let Yang die like that! She saw the other students running out of cover to help, but she knew they weren't going to make it in time. The Invisible was almost on her. A dull ache began to form in her eyes.

She was out of time. There was nothing she could do. She couldn't get free in time to save her. The dull ache in her eyes turned into an intense burn.

"YANG!" she screamed.

And then the Darkside let her go. She fell from the creature's grip and landed on her feet before looking up. The first thing she saw was a very familiar head of blue hair. And then she saw the black metal of the Master Keeper Keyblade.

"Mom!" she said, relief flooding over her. The older woman was standing in front of her, holding her Keyblade at her side and glaring at the Darkside, which was gripping its wrist in pain.

"Go help Yang," she ordered. "Then come back me up. I'm gonna need all the help I can get fighting this thing." With a nod from Ruby, the two Keybearers dashed away from each other and towards their own objectives: Saving Yang for Ruby and Keeping the Darkside busy for Aqua.

* * *

Aqua charged at the Darkside, her Keyblade raised. The Heartless reared its fist back, and Aqua called upon her Semblance, causing the blue glyph to appear underneath her, her stride not breaking as she rapidly approached the giant Heartless.

"Hercules!" she shouted, summoning a crystalline copy of a toga-wearing scrawny teenage boy. The summon ran ahead of the Keyblade Master, catching the monster's fist before it could reach her and holding its arm still. She jumped over the summon of Hercules and landed on the Darkside's wrist. As soon as she landed, she immediately started running up the monster's arm, making a bee-line right for its head. She saw the Darkside's other fist rapidly approaching her. Executing a flip, she jumped off the monster's arm, jumped over its fist, landed on the other arm, and launched herself straight at its head.

When she reached its head, she swung as hard as she could, hitting the Darkside straight in the face as she flew past it. After passing it, she turned around in midair and aimed the tip of her Keyblade at the back of the monster's head.

"Firaga!" she shouted, and a massive fireball launched out of her weapon and hit the Darkside in the back of the head. Aqua flipped backwards once before falling back down to the ground, the back of the Heartless's head completely obscured by smoke. She landed in a crouch and looked back up at the monster. It slowly turned around to face her, the smoke clearing. It was completely unharmed.

"Yeah, figured it would take more than that," she muttered to herself, straightening herself out and raising her Keyblade. "Alright then, come get some!"

* * *

After separating from her mother, Ruby ran straight for Yang, who was still being pinned down by the Neoshadows. As she ran towards her, the Invisible, apparently deciding the Keybearer was the more important target, appeared before her with its sword raised to try to intercept her. Instead of fighting it, she decided that saving Yang was a much more immediate priority, so she activated her Semblance, dashing around the sword-wielding Heartless entirely and continuing her mad dash for her sister. As she approached her, she focused her attention on the Neoshadows holding her down. She locked on to all four of them, and in a flash, her body was surrounded by a bright red light. Holding her Keyblade straight out in front of her, she shot forward, slamming her weapon into one of the Neoshadows as she sped past it, sending the monster flying. Without missing a beat, she launched herself at each of the remaining three Heartless as well, finally freeing Yang from their grasp. The sisters quickly had to roll out of the way of the Invisible swinging at both of them. As Ruby recovered from her roll, she saw a Neoshadow appear from a pool of darkness on the ground, its claws raised to swing at her. She raised her Keyblade to block the attack, but several gunshots rang out. At each one, the Neoshadow flinched, until it finally disappeared in a black cloud. Ruby looked up and saw Blake, her weapon's blade folded back to reveal a pistol, aiming down the sights at where the Heartless once was. The black-haired girl and the rest of the students quickly caught up with the sisters, surrounding the two of them in a defensive stance.

"Ruby!" Jaune called. "Are you guys okay?"

"We're fine," Ruby responded, reassuring her friend. "We have to take care of these things quickly so we can help her." She gestured towards Mom, who was still doing her best to hold off the Darkside.

"Who is that woman?" Pyrrha asked.

"She's only the coolest person _ever_!" Nora answered enthusiastically. "Besides Ren, of course."

"Be careful of the ones without swords," Ruby said, getting the group back on task. "They can turn themselves into moving shadows. You can't hurt them when they do that." Looking around, she saw the Invisible's sword imbedded in the ground, but couldn't see the Invisible itself. That could only mean one thing. She looked for the purple flames among the group, and saw them surrounding Pyrrha.

"Pyrrha!" Jaune yelled, tackling Pyrrha to the ground before the flames could converge on her. The flames gathered near the sword, reforming the Invisible's body. It reached for its sword, and Nora charged forward, her hammer raised. Before she could reach it, however, the Heartless grabbed its sword and blocked her swing, kicking her in the stomach to get her away from it.

"Nora!" Ren shouted, firing his machine pistols at the monster. The Invisible simply blocked the bullets with its sword while Pyrrha charged at it, her own sword raised. Realizing that his guns weren't doing anything, Ren joined her. Ruby was about to do the same when a Neoshadow launched itself out of the ground in front of her, its claws raised to swipe at her. Reacting quickly, she slid underneath it, swinging her Keyblade straight up at it to knock it further up into the air, interrupting its attack. She practically juggled it with a few more attacks, before finally finishing it off with an upward slash, the Heartless disappearing in a puff of smoke.

"Everyone!" she shouted. "The Neoshadows are vulnerable right after they pop out of the ground! That's your chance to kill it!" She saw another one dive into the ground, almost as if it was avoiding her after she killed its compatriot. She followed it as it traveled along the ground, approaching Weiss, who didn't see it. "Weiss!" she called out to the heiress. "It's headed your way!" Weiss turned to look at Ruby, and saw the Neoshadow approaching her. She raised her sword in preparation. The Neoshadow jumped out of the ground, and with her rapier engulfed in flames, she slashed it with her weapon, dissolving the Heartless.

"Nice one, Weiss!" Ruby cheered. Weiss turned her head away with a huff, but Ruby saw the little smile the heiress was trying to hide.

"Gotcha, you little bastard!" they heard Yang yell, and they saw her punch out the final Neoshadow, killing with a shotgun-powered punch to the face. Ruby looked to her sister, then to Weiss, and finally to Blake, before looking back at her mother, still fighting the Darkside.

"We have to help her," she said to the other three girls. "I promised her she'd have some backup."

"What about that that other creature?" Blake asked, looking at the Invisible, which was being engaged by Jaune, Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha.

"We'll just have to hope they can handle it," Yang said.

"Yang's right," Ruby said. "The big one takes priority."

"What are we waiting for, then?" Weiss asked.

"Right," Ruby said, nodding her head. "Let's go!"

* * *

"Pyrrha, are you okay?" Jaune asked after tackling the red-head to the ground to get her out of the way of the fire attack. They were both still on ground, Jaune on top of her and Pyrrha underneath him.

"Uh, yes, I'm fine," she replied, her face turning red for some reason.

Huh. Maybe she had a fever or something?

"Nora!" they heard Ren yelled before firing his machine pistols at the monster as it kicked the ginger away and towards Jaune. They saw that it was just blocking the bullets with its sword, and Pyrrha gently pushed Jaune off of her, before charging at it with her sword raised. After a few seconds of firing at the monster ineffectively, Ren joined her, using the blades attached to the undersides of his guns. Pyrrha unleashed a jumping slash, but the monster just shifted its body to the side to dodge it. Ren attempted to bring both of his weapons down in a cross shape, but the monster simply lifted its sword with one hand and stopped Ren's weapons in their tracks.

Seriously, since when do monsters use swords? So not fair.

The monster grabbed Ren's face with its free hand, and threw him several feet away from it. He landed hard on the ground, his Aura flaring up to attempt to cushion the blow.

"Ren!" Nora shouted in concern, and her hammer folded in on itself until it was shaped vaguely like a gun. She aimed at the monster and angrily pulled the trigger.

Holy crap, was that a grenade launcher?

The answer to that question, evidently, was "yes", it was a grenade launcher, if the large pink _exploding_ projectiles were any indication. The creature tried to use its sword to block the grenades like it did with Ren's bullets, but it clearly didn't know they were grenades, since the explosions seemed to catch it off-guard. However, before they could celebrate finally scoring a decent hit on that thing, it threw its sword into the ground again, turning its body into purple flames. The flames began to surround Nora, probably as payback for the grenades. Jaune looked up at the monster's sword on the ground. That's when he got an idea.

Every time the monster's done this weird trick, when it reformed its body it had to physically retrieve its weapon. The sword didn't just appear in its hand. Maybe he could use that to his advantage.

"Someone help Nora!" he yelled, not bothering to check to see if either Pyrrha or Ren actually could help her. "I got its sword!" He ran straight for the monster's sword, and as he approached, he saw the purple flames appear next to it. He was almost out of time. He dove for the weapon, and actually managed to get his hands on it, yanking it out of the ground. He swung wildly with the jagged sword gripped in both hands, and much to his own surprise, he actually hit the thing, staggering it. "Now! Hit it!" he shouted, and he heard the rapid ratatata of bullets, likely from Ren's guns. Without its sword to block them, the monster quickly found itself riddled with bullets before Pyrrha ran past Jaune, slashing the monster with her sword. Nora was right behind her, and delivered a vicious blow with her hammer. The monster seemed to flatten against her weapon, before the ginger's blow sent the monster flying. It flew straight at a stone wall of one of the ruined buildings, disappearing in a puff of smoke just as it hit the wall. Jaune looked down at the monster's sword in his hands, and it, too disappeared.

They did it.

It was finally dead.

The four of them collectively breathed a sigh of relief until they heard the sound of fighting nearby. They looked over and saw the blue-haired woman and the other four girls still fighting the giant.

"Let's go help them," he said to other three, who all nodded.

* * *

Aqua swung her Keyblade, batting away the Darkside's hand as it tried to swipe at her. She quickly threw her weapon right at its head, but it shifted at the last second to dodge it. She recalled the Master Keeper to her hand just in time to jump over the other fist of the Darkisde. She landed on the back of its hand, coated her weapon in fire, and slashed at the appendage. The monster flailed its arm, throwing her off. She landed on one knee, staring up at the Darkside. She raised herself back up, but before she could attack the Heartless, she saw several large icicles fly past her head and impact the Darkside in the chest. She turned around and saw the Schnee heiress, Weiss, she thought her name was, pointing her rapier at the creature. Evidently, the icicles were her doing. In addition to her, Aqua also saw the other students gathered with her, their weapons raised. Two of the students off from the group and charged at the Heartless. She could see that those two students were Yang and the ginger girl, Nora.

"Cavalry's here!" Yang yelled as they ran past her.

"Let's go, guys!" Ruby shouted, and the remaining six students sprang into action. The Darkside attempted to swing its arms at Yang and Nora as they were approaching it, but Weiss called up a white glyph underneath her, stabbing her rapier into it. An identical glyph appeared underneath the Heartless's left arm, and the monster suddenly found its arm encased in a block of ice. It's right arm was still being swung, but Jaune jumped in front of it, blocking it with his shield. However, he wasn't strong enough to hold it back, so it knocked him backwards. However, that little bit was able to keep its arm occupied so it couldn't attack Yang and Nora, who had finally reached its legs. Yang cocked her gauntlets back and Nora raised her hammer, the blonde slamming a shotgun-powered fist into the Darkside's left leg, while Nora swung her hammer at the right. The two powerful blows sent it to its knees, the ice on its arm shattering. The monster continued to fall forward, catching itself with its arms. Blake and Ren charged at it, and started climbing its arms. Pyrrha switched her sword to its javelin mode, and threw it as hard as she could, impacting right in the middle of its forehead. Just as it impacted, Blake and Ren launched themselves off the creature's arms, slashing at its head as they passed each other in mid-air. Aqua looked over at her youngest daughter on her right side.

"Ruby! Let's finish it!"

"Got it!"

The two Keybearers placed their weapons next to each other, pouring their energies into the blades. Bright light emitted from both weapons, combining to form one long energy blade. The two warriors raised their swords in unison, jumping high into the air.

Letting out a battle cry, they brought the large light beam straight down on the Darkside's head, bisecting it perfectly down the middle, finally killing it. The other students looked on in awe at the two Keybearers, as they dismissed their weapons and sat down on the ground, completely exhausted. A few seconds passed in silence, with the other students trying to catch their breath as well. Until Yang finally broke the silence.

"Well, that was a thing," she said, eliciting groans from everyone. Aqua simply chuckled.

Leave it to Yang.

* * *

Why couldn't this day just be over already?

After that grueling and quite frankly terrifying initiation, the only thing Ruby wanted to do was sleep. Unfortunately, they still had the Team Naming Ceremony to attend. For that reason, all of the prospective first-year students, or at least the ones that passed, were standing in the auditorium, down by the pit around the stage, while Professors Goodwitch and Ozpin were standing on the stage itself, projecting holographic images of the successful students as their names were called to be placed into teams. Even though there were significantly less students now than there were the night before (almost worryingly fewer students), it still felt like it was taking forever to get through all of the teams. The Headmaster had just called a team of all boys onto the stage, prompting applause from the audience of upper-class students in the seats around the pit.

"Russel Thrush," Professor Ozpin recited. "Cardin Winchester. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Lark." The boys in question stood in a line in front of the Headmaster. "The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CRDL, led by…" he paused, probably for dramatic effect, which was really starting to annoy Ruby, "Cardin Winchester." The boy in question had the most smug grin she had ever seen (and she had seen _a lot_ of smug grins in her life, mostly from her uncle and sister) as he turned around to join the other students that had already been placed on a team. Professor Ozpin removed their names and portraits from his screen and replaced them with four familiar faces.

"Jaune Arc. Lie Ren. Pyrrha Nikos. Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team JNPR. Led by..." there was that dramatic pause again. Ruby sighed. "Jaune Arc!" And just like that, Ruby had a huge smile plastered on her face.

"Woo! Way to go, Jaune!" she cheered for her friend.

"Congratulations, young man," Professor Ozpin said to Jaune right before Pyrrha gave him a playful bump on the shoulder. Unfortunately, that bump knocked Jaune to the ground, causing the other students to laugh at him. And just like that, Ruby was back to being annoyed.

What right did _they_ have to laugh at him? He was probably just distracted by the shock of being made leader that Pyrrha's bump caught him off-guard. That was no reason to laugh at him! She didn't have long to fume, though, as the newly-christened Team JNPR vacated the stage, leaving just the remaining four girls.

At least Ruby didn't have to keep questioning who her team was.

"And finally: Blake Belladonna. Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee. Yang Xiao Long." The four girls stepped in front of him as their names were called. "The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWBY."

_Team RWBY?_ Ruby thought. _That's weird. That's my name. But, hold on. There's no "W" in "Ruby"._ So lost in thought was she that she almost missed the next part.

"Led by…Ruby Rose."

Ruby's jaw fell open. There was no way she heard him right. Her, a team leader? Little Miss Socially Awkward was expected to _lead_ people?! This had to be some kind of cruel joke. She was suddenly pulled into another one of her sister's patented crushing hugs.

"I'm so proud of you!" Yang gushed, confirming that no, the Headmaster wasn't joking when he said that Ruby would be leading Team RWBY. Her own team.

She didn't know what to feel, so she settled on "numb".

**AN: And that's finally a wrap for Initiation. I'm really not sure exactly how satisfied I am with how the action in this chapter turned out. Any pointers on how I can make action better in the future will be much-appreciated.**

**With this chapter, we finally have a reveal of one of Ruby's Shotlocks. She will have a different one for each form her Keyblade takes. When her Keyblade is in its base state, her Shotlock is basically Sora's Sonic Blade. **

**So, we had the future Teams RWBY and JNPR fight off not only an enhanced Darkside, but an enhanced Invisible and Neoshadows, too, alongside Aqua.**

**For next chapter, we will get into the beginning days of the first semester at Beacon. Everyone will have a lot of new things to get used to, and since there will be significantly less action, it shouldn't take me nearly as long to finish the next one.**

**I've also got a little announcement to make. In order to try to get past my writer's block during this chapter, I started a little side project called "A Jewel Without a Crown". It's a pure Xenoblade Chronicles 2 fanfiction that so far only has a prologue uploaded, but I will make a little more progress on that and upload it periodically. If you've played Xenoblade 2, then check it out. It might be something you could enjoy.**

**With that, as always, thank you guys for reading, and I'll see you all next chapter!**


	16. Chapter 16

**AN: Hey, everyone. Surprisingly enough, this chapter is actually one of the longest ones I've written for this fanfiction so far. I really like what I did with the characters here, and I hope you will too. **

**By the way, I just watched the Kingdom Hearts 2020 trailer, and I'm really not sure how I feel. First off, Dark Road is an expansion to Union X, which I never liked and didn't play that much of. It's for that reason that this story will contain practically zero elements from the Age of Fairy Tales. Second, I don't like the sound of a Kingdom Hearts-themed rhythm game. While I adore the soundtrack to these games, and I enjoy rhythm games, I don't like the idea of RPGs getting random rhythm game spin-offs. It's why I didn't bother with the Persona dancing games, either. Granted, I'm still going to buy Melody of Memory or whatever it's called since it looks like it continues the story, but that's only because I can't help myself. However, I'm hearing rumors that we might get a game where we play as Kairi, and I am all for that, especially after Nomura's been doing her dirty like he has for the entire series.**

**Anyway, on with the chapter! Enjoy! **

Chapter 16

Aqua let out a low whistle as Glynda opened the door to her room for her, her suitcase at her side. Evidently, the teachers at Beacon were given essentially apartments to live in, rather than the smaller dorm rooms the students had access to. As soon as she walked through the door, she entered into a fully-furnished office, complete with a desk, a full bookshelf, two couches with a coffee table between them, and even a T.V. in the corner. In another corner of the room was a full kitchen. Through a door to the side she spotted a bathroom with a shower. In the back of the room, she spotted another door that lead to a bedroom. She walked straight ahead into the bedroom and took a quick look around.

There was a queen-size bed in the center of the room with a headboard. Something to keep in mind for when Qrow eventually came back. She even brought something with her that would make good use of that particular part of the bed. Along one wall was a long dresser with a large mirror, and along the other wall was an armoire. On either side of the bed was a nightstand, and there was even a walk-in closet.

This place was even nicer than the hotel room she stayed in for the first few weeks after she arrived on Remnant all those years ago. She hefted her suitcase onto the bed and unzipped it, revealing the extra clothes and belongings she brought with her. She figured since she was in her room now, she might as well unpack. Glynda followed her into the room, standing in the doorway.

"I take it everything is to your liking?" Glynda asked.

"Oh, yes," Aqua answered. "It's even better than I could have hoped for." She reached into her suitcase and picked up one of the items that was placed carefully on top of the pile: a framed picture of herself and Qrow from their wedding a year ago. In the picture she was wearing a beautiful white dress, and was being carried bridal-style (fittingly enough) by Qrow, her lips pressed up against his cheek. The man himself was wearing a black tuxedo with a huge smile on his face, and to this day it was the only time she had ever seen her husband wear a tie. She smiled at the photo before placing it on the nightstand.

"I wanted to apologize to you," Glynda said.

"What for?" Aqua asked, raising her eyebrow in confusion. Glynda gestured to the photo.

"The night we met, I was shocked when you told me you were married to Qrow. It was very rude of me and I just wanted to say I'm sorry."

"Oh, no, it's fine," Aqua said. "I complete forgot all about that. Don't worry." She reached back into her bag to continue unpacking, when she heard the sound of metal jingling from inside her suitcase. She froze as soon as she heard that, having found the…uh…_thing_ that would make use of the bed's headboard.

Yeah, she could finish unpacking later.

Clearing her throat, she asked, "So, uh, what's on the agenda for tomorrow?"

"Well, we're still getting everything set up for your class. Since you were such a last-minute addition, we don't have a classroom ready for you yet."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Aqua said. "I didn't realize my teaching here would give you so much extra work."

"Don't apologize," Glynda said. "It's not your fault." It was very easy for Aqua to guess who the deputy Headmistress felt was truly at fault. She almost felt sorry for Ozpin. Almost. "Anyways, we would like you to spend at least tomorrow shadowing one of our other professors while we get everything set up for you. It'll buy us some time and allow you to get used to our academy's teaching environment before you actually have to teach yourself."

"Yeah, I guess that would be pretty helpful," Aqua said. That just begged the question.

"So, what am I going to be teaching, anyway?"

* * *

Thanks to being so used to it, Ruby automatically woke up at her usual time, 5 in the morning. She blearily opened her eyes in an unfamiliar room. Then everything came back to her.

This was her dorm room.

In _Beacon_!

No, it wasn't just _her_ dorm room. I was Team RWBY's dorm room.

Her team.

It finally dawned on her just where she was and she was suddenly overcome with happiness. She couldn't help herself and started jumping on her bed in excitement until she heard a soft chuckle next to her. She immediately froze and looked at the next bed over at her sister, who was just looking at her with a sly grin on her face.

"Someone's excited," Yang whispered to avoid waking up Blake and Weiss, who were still sleeping. The other pair hadn't so much as spoken a single word to each other after initiation, and had barely spoken to the sisters either. Ruby knew this team was going to need a lot of work, which only made Professor Ozpin's decision to appoint her as team leader all the more confusing. But, it still didn't change the fact that she was at Beacon on the same team as her big sister.

"How long have you been awake?" Ruby whispered angrily.

"Long enough to see you jump on the bed like an 8-year-old." Ruby flopped down to sit on her butt, her arms folded in front of her, a huge pout on her face.

"What, am I not allowed to be happy?" she asked.

"I never said you weren't allowed," Yang countered. "It's just adorable."

"Ugh," Ruby groaned quietly. "Let's just go train already." She got up out of bed and walked over to her suitcase in the corner of the room, her sister doing the same. Since Weiss and Blake were still sleeping, she decided it wouldn't be a problem for her to get changed in the middle of the room. Yang clearly had the same thought, since she didn't go into the dorm's connected bathroom, either. Besides, they were all girls. She changed out of her pajamas, quickly putting on a black sports bra, a black tank top, and red shorts, and slipping her feet into a pair of sneakers. Since it was just her morning workout and she was going to shower afterwards, there was really no point in putting on her full combat outfit. Having finished changing, she turned around to see her sister was already done.

Honestly, it was easy for her sister to have finished changing first, since decided to forgo the shirt and just wear her sports bra and a pair of shorts. Well, hopefully there wouldn't be too many people awake at this hour.

"Ready?" Yang asked.

"Ready," Ruby replied, and the sisters headed for the door to their room, making sure to grab their scrolls on the way out so they could get back in later.

* * *

Pyrrha woke up at 5 for her morning workout, doing her best to get up quietly to avoid waking up Ren, Nora, and Jaune. Despite her doubts on the first day, being on a team was a much more pleasant experience so far than she had initially feared. Granted, they had only met the day before, but maybe she could just this once hold on to some hope. She looked over at the sleeping forms of her team mates, a small smile on her face.

First off, there was Nora Valkyrie. Calling her a bundle of pure energy would be underselling it a bit, but she wasn't bothered as much as she thought she would be. She may be hyper, but she was also one of the sweetest people Pyrrha had ever met. And while she made a big deal out of a lot of things, like pancakes, sloths, and how she and Ren were absolutely not dating, the fact that she was on a team with a celebrity was noticeably _not_ one of those things, which Pyrrha was silently grateful for.

Next up, was Nora's partner, Lie Ren. He was almost Nora's polar opposite, and yet they got along famously. Or maybe it was _because_ they were so different that they got along. Where Nora was loud, Ren was quiet, where Nora talked almost constantly, Ren only spoke when he had something important to say. While Nora seemed almost permanently happy, Ren was much more subdued. Regardless, if he and Nora really had been best friends for as long as she claimed they'd been, then he must have the patience of a saint.

Finally, Pyrrha's eyes rested on her own partner and leader, an adorable blond boy known as Jaune Arc. At first glance, most people would write him off, but Pyrrha knew better. After all, she had unlocked his Aura. When she did that, she got a glimpse into his soul. She saw a kind, earnest soul yearning to do the right thing. He just needed a little help. And besides, he had no idea who she was, so he was finally someone she could talk to without the barrier of her fame getting in the way. Her smile grew as she looked at him, before shaking her head and getting her workout clothes to start her morning exercises.

Grabbing a stack of clothes, she stepped into the dorm's bathroom to have some privacy in case one of her team mates woke up. There was a full-body mirror on one wall of the bathroom, allowing her to see herself in her red silk pajamas, sadly the most conservative outfit she owned. She sighed as she looked at the workout clothes in her hand, the _least_ conservative outfit she owned. By the time she was 16 and starting to develop as a woman, her agent had immediately jumped on the opportunity.

"_You're becoming a woman now, Pyrrha_," she had said to her. "_And a beautiful one, too. Everyone already knows that The Invincible Girl is as strong as they come, but they need to see that she can be sexy, too._"

With this new "sexy" direction came more marketing opportunities, like magazine photoshoots in swimsuits that she absolutely despised, doing some modeling work for fashion lines, and she had to put her foot down when she was booked to model for a _lingerie _brand of all things. Sadly, this sudden new direction also extended to her normal clothing. In order to project her beauty at all times, the new wardrobe her agent had bought for her was significantly more revealing than what she would have worn otherwise. Sadly, that extended to the workout clothes she was now carrying in her arms. Since it was the only pair she owned that she could bring with her, she had to wear it today. She would need to make sure very soon to buy herself some more clothes, since she had the freedom to do that now.

Standing in front of the mirror, she took off her pajamas, solemnly putting on her sports bra before slipping on a red tank top that revealed her toned abs and black shorts. She would just have to suck it up like she always did until she could get new clothes. Sighing, she exited the bathroom, noticing that the rest of her team were still asleep. Grabbing her scroll, she quietly crept up to the door, and stepped outside, slowly pulling it closed.

"Oh, hey, Pyrrha," a voice said from behind her, causing the redhead in question to practically jump out of her skin, letting out a yelp. Pyrrha quickly turned around, and saw the person who greeted her was Ruby, accompanied by Yang. The girls were just coming out of their dorm room, which was right across the hall from Team JNPR's. "Oh, sorry," Ruby said sheepishly. "I didn't mean to startle you." Ruby was dressed in a black tank top and red shorts, but Yang was only wearing a yellow sports bra and black shorts, causing Pyrrha to almost blush in embarrassment vicariously. And here Pyrrha thought her own workout clothes were skimpy. But she had to admit, the blonde wore the look really well, probably even better than Pyrrha herself could have. Maybe it was that easy, natural confidence of hers that indicated that she was a girl who looked good and knew it, a confidence that Pyrrha never really had but was good at faking. Yang, though, she could tell her confidence was real.

"Oh, no, it's fine," Pyrrha said. "I just wasn't expecting anyone else to be awake at this hour."

"Eh, we're used to it," Yang said with a nonchalant shrug. "Our teachers were real strict with doing our morning workouts, so it just became a habit for us."

"I figured you were going to work out," Pyrrha said. "My mentors drilled this habit into me, as well."

"Hey, wanna join us?" Yang asked.

"Really?" Pyrrha was surprised. There were people out there that actually _wanted_ to train with her? Most people would just assume she wouldn't want to train with anyone so beneath her, so this was rather jarring.

"Yeah, the more the merrier!" Yang said enthusiastically. "Right, Rubes?" the two of them looked over at Ruby, who was fidgeting nervously.

"Uh, yeah," the younger girl finally said. Pyrrha frowned inwardly. Was Ruby one of those people? She looked at the two older girls, and then at herself, and Yang flinched. Realization dawned on Pyrrha about why Ruby seemed a little apprehensive. It wasn't because she was intimidated by Pyrrha's fame. This was a body issue. She was going to politely decline the offer, not wanting to make the young leader uncomfortable, but then Yang spoke up.

"Can she check out your weapons?" At the blonde's question, Ruby instantly perked up and looked at Pyrrha expectantly.

"Of course," Pyrrha said, smiling. "That sounds fun." Besides, she had been meaning to ask Ruby about that weird weapon of hers, too.

"Great!" Yang said, grabbing Ruby's hand. "Let's go! We're burning daylight!" she started dragging Ruby down the hall to the locker room so they could grab their weapons, the younger girl protesting her treatment the whole time.

* * *

Once the initial excitement of seeing some new weapons died down, Ruby went back to internally panicking. It was bad enough that she was going to be out in public with her half-naked sister for people to compare them, but now she had this red-haired goddess to worry about, too? The trio of girls reached the door to the locker room, Ruby doing her best to brace herself for the ridicule that was sure to follow. Her sister opened the door and…

It was empty.

Totally empty.

Not a single soul could be found in the locker room.

That was odd. She thought for sure that the room would be packed with other students getting in their early morning training. Maybe the other students decided to sleep in on the first day? She started following her sister and Pyrrha on auto-pilot while she thought.

The lack of people in the locker room caused her to calm down. If no one was around, she didn't have to worry about being compared unfavorably to the undeniably gorgeous girls with her. She loved Yang a lot, she really did, but she really wished that her sister's Semblance didn't force her to wear revealing clothing like it did. Yang was a knockout, and constantly needing to have her stomach exposed to expel excess heat meant that her figure was always on display. However, as much as it bothered Ruby that being in her sister's presence made it more apparent just how plain she was, she would never say that to Yang. She didn't want Yang to feel guilty over something she couldn't control.

Making matters worse, Ruby now found herself on a team full of girls older and better-looking than her. Blake was good-looking in ways very similar to her sister, and if she was being honest, how quiet she was gave her an air of mystery, which just made things worse for the young Keybearer. And while Weiss had a very similar figure to Ruby, her poise and elegance more than made up for her being lacking in the chest department. Plus, she had that cool scar!

Life really wasn't fair sometimes.

A sword being thrust into her hands took her completely out of her self-deprecating thoughts, and she looked down at the red-and-yellow sword in awe.

Now _that_ was a weapon.

She hefted it in her hands, feeling the perfect balance and light weight of the blade.

"This is called 'Milo'," Pyyrha explained. "The shield is called 'Akuou'."

"This is so cool!" she exclaimed. She could see the mechanisms that meant it was a mechashift weapon, and she handed it back to Pyrrha. "How does it transform?" Pyrrha pressed a button on the side of the grip, causing the handle to become longer and the blade to condense into a spear point. Within seconds, Pyrrha's weapon had transformed from a short sword into a javelin. Due to the long handle and short point, Ruby could see that it was meant to be thrown and not used like a long spear. Ruby's smile grew larger seeing it.

And then Pyrrha pressed a different button, and the blade fully receded, the weapon expanding into a long rifle.

Her weapon had _three forms!_

Ruby absolutely did not squeal in excitement at seeing it. Yang placed a hand over Ruby's mouth to stop the totally non-existent noise.

"Sorry about her," Yang said to the redhead. "She's always been a huge weapon nut."

"Yaaaaaaang," Ruby whined after taking Yang's hand off her mouth.

"Don't 'Yaaaaang' me," her sister scolded. "You are."

"Oh, I don't mind," Pyrrha said. "I'm actually kind of flattered that someone is this fascinated by my weapons."

"There, see?" Ruby said to her sister, crossing her arms indignantly. "Pyrrha doesn't mind."

"Fine, fine," Yang said, putting her hands up in mock surrender. "Since we're sharing, why don't I show Pyrrha my babies?" Yang opened up her locker and put her gauntlets over her wrists in bracelet form. She expanded them into their full form, covering up her otherwise bare forearms. "I call these bad boys Ember Celica. Gauntlets with shotgun barrels built in."

"Very impressive," Pyrrha said. "I saw you packed a punch during initiation."

"Yeah," Yang said proudly. "I figured I'd make a good first impression. Really start off the year with a _Yang_." Ruby groaned, the slapping noise from her hand smacking her forehead reverberating throughout the locker room.

"…I'm sorry?" Pyrrha asked, her head tilting in confusion.

"Get it?" Yang said. "Like 'start with a bang', but my name is Yang?" Pyrrha just blinked owlishly at her.

"Ugh, just ignore her," Ruby said, causing Yang to glare at her. "We can't get her to stop so maybe if you just don't acknowledge her she'll stop."

"Hey, my jokes are great!" Yang tried to defend.

"No, they really aren't," Ruby answered.

"If you don't mind me asking," Pyrrha interjected, "what is your relationship? You seem very close."

"Oh, we're sisters," Ruby said.

"Really?" Pyrrha asked, confusion clear on her face.

"Yeah, we know, we look nothing alike and we have different last names," Yang said. "Same dad, different moms. And then we got a new mom after that. It's complicated."

"I-I see," Pyrrha said. "Anyway, Ruby why don't you show me your weapon? I'm curious how you summoned it during initiation."

"Oh, that was, uh, part of my Semblance," Ruby quickly lied. She held out her hand in front of her and called her Keyblade to her hand. "This is Crescent Rose," she said proudly, displaying the weapon for the redhead to see.

"Interesting," Pyrrha said, leaning in closer. "I've never seen a sword like that before."

"Yeah, she's pretty special," Ruby said proudly. "I've had her since I was really little, actually."

"Really? Where did you get it?"

"Made her myself," Ruby said. It wasn't technically _un_true, as the Keyblade being born from her heart did kind of mean that she had created it. "She's actually got three forms, too. Here, I'll show you." With just a thought, she transformed her Keyblade into its scythe form. While she had always been a little jealous of people with mechashift weapons because of just how freaking cool they were, she did have to admit, not having to press a button or operate any mechanisms to transform her weapon was more convenient.

"I've never met a scythe user before," Pyrrha said, clearly impressed by the weapon's appearance.

"Yeah, my uncle taught me how to use it. She can also do this." With another thought the weapon transformed again into its sniper rifle form. Pyrrha let out a low whistle.

"Impressive," the redhead complimented her. "I'm looking forward to seeing what you both can do. Maybe we can spar against each other in combat class."

"I'll make sure to kick your ass," Yang said, giving her trademark smirk. Pyrrha's eyes widened, before she burst out laughing.

"In that case, I can't wait," she said happily. "Now let's get started with our workout. We did kill a lot of time."

"Yeah, let's go," Ruby said, and the trio of girls left the locker room.

* * *

Aqua stepped out of her bathroom in her underwear, her freshly-dried hair flowing down her back. It was about 6 in the morning, and she had to be dressed and at Ozpin's office in twenty minutes. She walked into her bathroom, where her clothes had already been laid out, and caught a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror. With her bra being the only thing currently adorning her upper body, she could clearly see her black bird tattoo on her left breast, right over her heart. A few years, back, Qrow had somehow convinced her that they should get matching tattoos, so she got one of a crow, and he got one of a water droplet, both over their hearts. It was a sweet gesture, but then they had to spend the next three weeks trying to explain to Yang why they could get tattoos, but she couldn't. That hadn't been fun.

She picked up her clothes from the bed and quickly put them on, looking herself over in the mirror. She had purchased a brand new outfit special for teaching, and if she said so herself, she looked damn good in it.

It was a relatively simple outfit, consisting of a light blue blouse, a black pencil skirt, dark grey leggings, black heels, and of course her necklace with both of her Wayfinders. Nodding in approval at her reflection, she pinned her hair behind her head like usual, and walked out of her office, confident to start the day.

* * *

The route to Ozpin's office took Aqua through Beacon's courtyard, where she saw a few familiar faces doing their workouts. Ruby and Yang were running through their katas alongside a girl with long red hair, Pyrrha Nikos, if she remembered correctly. The best part in the Keyblade Master's opinion was that if the chatting she saw while they were doing their exercises was any indication, they were all working out together, and not just being in the same area by coincidence. It warmed her heart to see her daughters making friends so quickly. She gave a quick wave to them before moving on to the central tower.

She walked through the doors to the tower, and up to the receptionist.

"Can I help you?" the receptionist asked.

"Yes, my name is Aqua Branwen. Professor Ozpin wanted to meet with me."

"One second," the woman said, typing something up on her computer. "Yep, right there, Aqua Branwen. If you take the elevator up to the top floor, it will take you straight into Professor Ozpin's office."

"Thank you," Aqua said to the receptionist as she took her leave, entering the elevator and hitting the button for the top floor. The room she stepped out into was absolutely gorgeous. The Headmaster's office was circular, with the entire wall taken up by a massive window providing a panoramic view of the city of Vale. The floor was also made of glass, revealing underneath it a series of rotating cogs. In the center of the room was an ornate desk, with the Headmaster sitting in a chair behind it. To his side was Glynda and in front of the desk was Peter and someone she didn't recognize.

The new person was a tall and lanky man, with shaggy green hair, large, round, opaque glasses (making Aqua wonder how he could even see), and he was clearly attempting to look professional, since he was wearing a white dress shirt with a tie, but it was put together so sloppily that it made her wonder what the point was. As the two men turned around as she walked into the office, she could see that the green-haired man was holding a mug of presumably coffee in his hand.

"Ah, Aqua, good morning," Ozpin greeted.

"Good morning," she replied.

"I wanted to introduce you to another member of our staff. Bart, if you'd please."

"Yes, of course," the green-haired man said, zipping towards Aqua so fast that she thought she was talking to Ruby for a second. He grabbed her hand and started vigorously shaking it. "It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck, and I teach the history of Remnant here at Beacon Academy. It is my distinct pleasure to meet you."

At least, that's what she thought he said. He spoke so fast that she was sure she missed something. But better not to be rude.

"It's nice to meet you, Doctor, uh, Oobleck, was it?"

"Please, call me Bart."

"Bart, then. My name is Aqua Branwen."

"Wait for it…" she heard Peter say from behind Bart.

"Ah, you're Qrow's wife, I presume." Peter, Glynda, and Ozpin all had to pick their jaws up off the floor after Bart managed to actually guess Aqua's marital status.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" She asked.

"Your wedding ring," he said, pointing to her hand. "Since you bear no physical resemblance to either of the Branwen twins whatsoever, that ruled out you being their sister, which means Branwen is not your maiden name. Thus, the wedding ring combined with your last name could only lead me to conclude that you are married to Qrow."

"Well, that's, uh, astute of you," she said.

"But of course," he said enthusiastically. "In my line of work, I need to be able to glean facts from small, barely-noticeable details."

"Yeah, you said you teach history, right?"

"That is correct. And what, my dear, can we expect you to teach?"

"Advanced Combat and Team Tactics," Aqua, said, remembering what Glynda had told her the night before.

"Aqua here has quite the extensive hunting record," Ozpin chimed in from his seat. "With her skills, I decided a combat-oriented class would be ideal for her. This meeting is actually to help us work out the finer details of your new class with you. After this meeting, you'll be shadowing Peter for the remainder of today."

"Sounds good," Aqua said.

"I am quite excited to work with you again, Aqua," Peter said happily.

"Likewise," Aqua said. "Was there anything else we needed to cover today during this meeting?"

"Yes, actually," Glynda said, her face growing darker. "Before we continue, we would like you to tell us everything you know about the Heartless."

* * *

Ruby and Yang quietly entered their dorm room, a thin layer of sweat covering their forms. They saw that Blake had already showered and was wearing her school uniform, quietly reading to herself on her bed. Weiss, however, was still sleeping. Seeing Blake gave the sisters an opportunity to get a good look at Beacon's uniform for the first time, and in Ruby's opinion, in was super cute. Blake wore a white blouse under a brown vest, with a black, gold-trimmed blazer worn closed over that. In addition, the female uniform also included a red pleated skirt and brown loafers, with Blake wearing black, knee-high socks under them. She still had her bow on her head, and only nodded quietly to acknowledge that Ruby and Yang had entered the room before returning her attention to her book.

Without a word, Ruby dashed into the bathroom before her sister had the chance to, eager to take a shower before putting her own uniform on.

* * *

A few minutes later, Ruby was sitting quietly on her bed in her uniform, feeling very eager to get started, with Blake still reading and Yang in the shower. Her uniform was mostly the same as Blake's, except she was wearing black tights under the skirt, her cape on her back, and her Wayfinder around her neck.

"I can't wait," Ruby said.

"For what?" Blake asked, not looking up from her book.

"To start school, what else?"

"You act like you haven't been to school before."

"Well, it's been a while," Ruby said sadly, looking down. "I don't really want to talk about it."

I won't ask, then," Blake said. After a few seconds, Ruby looked around the room taking in the empty walls.

"You know, we really need to do something about this room."

"What, you want to decorate?"

"Yeah! We brought stuff to do it with, didn't you?"

"I did bring some books."

"Well, we've got plenty of time before our first class." She looked down at Weiss, who was still sleeping. "Although, we should probably wake Weiss up before we start."

"Start what?" Yang asked, walking out of the bathroom with her uniform on. Well, sort of.

She was wearing the skirt and blazer, but it was worn open. Underneath that, instead of the blouse and vest, she was wearing her yellow crop top, and around her neck was of course her Wayfinder. On her legs, she wore the brown loafers with black thigh-high stockings. It was…unorthodox to say the least, but Ruby understood why she had to modify it. After all, Ruby had modified hers by adding her cloak, so it's not like she could judge anyone for wearing it however they wanted to.

"Decorating," Ruby said, answering Yang's question.

"Ah, sweet!" Yang said happily. Then she looked at Weiss. "Damn, Ice Queen is still sleeping?"

"Yeah," Ruby said. "Blake, you want to wake her up?"

"Not particularly," the black-haired girl said.

"Why not? Isn't she your partner?"

"So?" Blake asked with a scoff. "That doesn't mean I like her. I frankly couldn't care less if she ever wakes up."

"But—" Ruby tried to argue.

"Eh, don't worry," Yang said, a mischievous grin on her face. Ruby never liked that look. "I'll get her up."

"Why do I get the feeling that no one is going to like your way of 'getting her up'?" Ruby asked.

"I don't know, maybe because we've been sisters our entire lives?" Yang responded, rummaging around in her bag until she found a whistle. Ruby looked concerned, Blake looked scared for some reason, and Yang leaned over to put the whistle right up to Weiss's ear.

"Oh, no," Ruby muttered.

*_FWEEEEEET_*

"AAAAAH!" Weiss screamed in panic, rolling out of her bed and landing face-first on the floor. Ruby thought she heard Blake snicker next to her.

"Up and at 'em, Ice Queen!" Yang yelled at the fallen heiress.

"What in the world is wrong with you?!" Weiss yelled, while Yang just laughed. "Stop that! It's not funny!"

"Yes it is!" Yang said, continuing to laugh. "Lighten up. It's just a whistle."

"Just a whistle?!" Weiss yelled, getting up off the floor and pointing her finger in Yang's face. "Now listen here, you-!" She froze mid-sentence and looked down at Yang's body. "What are you wearing?"

"Uh, my uniform," Yang said.

"_That_ is not the uniform," Weiss said. "Beacon's uniform is proper and stylish. You look like some cheap hussy."

"Hey!" Yang said, her mood changing very quickly from amused to angry.

"What, you know your brains won't be enough to make it through Beacon so you're hoping that sleeping with a professor or two will keep your grades up?"

"Like I would ever!" Yang yelled. "I have dignity!"

"Oh, really?" Weiss asked, crossing her arms. "What other reason could you possibly have for modifying the uniform to reveal that much skin?"

"Listen here, bitch!"

"How dare you!"

"Alright, that's enough, you two!" Ruby yelled, physically getting in between her sister and the heiress. "It's the first day, and you're starting off with a fight! We're a team! We have to work together!"

"You heard what she said about me!" Yang said. "She called me a slut!"

"What other conclusion could I reach about you when you're dressed like you meet men behind the bleachers?"

"Come here, you!" Yang yelled, reaching for Weiss as her eyes turned red.

"Yang, stop!" Ruby ordered. Yang looked like she was still ready to fight Weiss, so she hardened her gaze. "_I'm_ the leader of this team, Yang, and I'm _ordering_ you to stop." She turned to Weiss. "Weiss, the reason why Yang dresses like that is because her Semblance makes her body warmer than it's supposed to be. The uniform has too many layers normally, so she has to do that or she'll overheat." Weiss was quiet for a few seconds.

"Fine," she finally said. "That answer is adequate."

"What, that's it?" Yang demanded. "You say all that shit to me, and then all you have to say is 'that's adequate'?"

"Yang, drop it," Ruby said.

"But she was acting like a huge bitch!"

"Yeah, after you blew a whistle in her ear," Ruby pointed out, causing Yang to visibly deflate. "She has a right to be mad after that." Yang just crossed her arms and pouted. "Now, why don't you guys call a truce?"

"Fine," they both mumbled at the same time.

"Thank you," Ruby said. "Now that that's out of the way, we can get to our first official mission as Team RWBY!"

"Which is?" Weiss asked.

"Decorating!" Ruby yelled happily. "This room is so boring on its own, we need to spruce it up a little, make it feel like home."

"We are doing nothing until I shower and dress," Weiss said, walking into the bathroom.

"Okay, we'll wait," Ruby said.

* * *

The four girls spent close to an hour decorating their room. Yang had put up a poster of her favorite band, the Achieve Men. Blake had apparently only brought some clothes and a lot of books, which took up almost an entire bookcase on their own. Ruby caught her hide away a book called _Ninjas of Love_, making a mental note to ask her to borrow it (Ninjas are cool, after all). Weiss easily had the most stuff. From lots of expensive clothes and jewelry, to her makeup, to even paintings that she hung up on the wall, she seemed to have brought everything. Ruby had a few books (both novel and comic variety), a few changes of clothes, and some video games.

The girls had finally stopped to admire their work, only to realize that in their efforts, they had managed to pile up their beds on the floor in the middle of the room.

"This is a problem," Weiss observed.

"Thanks, Captain Obvious," Blake snipped, causing Weiss to glare at her. Ruby and Yang looked at the mess thoughtfully.

"Bunk beds?" Yang asked.

"Bunk beds," Ruby confirmed.

"That sounds dangerous," Weiss said nervously.

"No one asked you," Yang said.

"Yang," Ruby said warningly, causing Yang to put her hands up in surrender.

"Blake, you think converting the beds into bunk beds sound like it could be dangerous, right?" the heiress asked her partner.

"I think it's a great idea," Blake said.

"That settles it, then!" Yang said, and the girls got to work lifting up their beds. After a lot of work, they finally succeeded in creating bunk beds.

Kind of.

Ruby's bed was suspended from the ceiling by ropes over Weiss's bed, and Yang's bed was held over Blake's by stacking books between the legs of the two beds. Weiss looked incredibly nervous at the precariousness of the situation, but her objections went ignored.

"And done!" Ruby said happily. She climbed onto her bed and pulled a schedule out of her bag to examine it. "Alright, our second order of business is classes. Now, we have a few classes together today. Starting at 9, we have—"

"What?!" Weiss yelled, interrupting her. "Did you say 9 o'clock?"

"Uh, yes?" Ruby said uncertainly.

"It's 8:55, you dunce!" Weiss yelled, running out of the room.

"Uh oh, uh, to class!" Ruby yelled, chasing after Weiss, followed by her sister and Blake. They were quickly joined by the members of Team JNPR, who were evidently also late.

* * *

Aqua looked at the clock in the classroom.

8:59.

Where were they?

Peter's Grimm Studies class was Team RWBY's first class of the day, and there was no sign of her daughters' team anywhere. They weren't seriously going to allow themselves to be late on the first day, were they? She might need to give those girls a talking-to later.

A second later, a mass of bodies burst through the door, with a familiar voice squeaking "made it!" Aqua shook her head at the group barely managing to make it on time. By the time they got their bodies untangled, she could see all the members of Team RWBY standing there in their uniforms.

Oh, they looked so cute!

Wait, what was Yang wearing?

"Good of you to finally join u—" Peter started to say, when he abruptly stopped talking. "Miss, Xiao Long, was it?"

"Yeah?" Yang answered.

"What exactly have you done to our school's uniform?" he asked. The rest of the class turned to look at her, with several boys whistling in appreciation. She looked down at herself.

"Oh, this? My Semblance makes me give off a lot of body heat, so I felt like I was suffocating in all those layers I had to wear."

"Well, we have a uniform for a reason. I will have to ask you to change."

"But I just said that the uniform is too hot."

"Regardless, the rules must be observed."

"I think we can let it slide this once, Peter," Aqua chimed in, gaining the class's attention, including Team RWBY, who evidently hadn't noticed she was there if the way Ruby and Yang's faces suddenly lit up was any indication. "I can tell you that her body heat is legitimately a problem, and I'll talk to Ozpin about having a new uniform custom-made for her with more breathable materials."

"Very well, then," Peter said after a few seconds. "In that case, Team RWBY, please take your seats so that we may begin class. The four girls opted to sit in the front row of the lecture-hall-style room, and Peter picked up a piece of chalk and wrote his own name on the board next to a detailed diagram of a King Taijitu. "My name is Professor Peter Port, and welcome to Grimm Studies." He gave an exaggerated bow after introducing himself, and then gestured towards Aqua. "And this our newest professor. She'll be observing today's class." Aqua took that as her cue and stepped forward.

"Hello there," she said, giving the students a small wave. "My name is Aqua Branwen, and I'll be teaching Advanced Combat and Team Tactics. I'm looking forward to teaching you." She gave a slight bow when she was finished, the class settled in to start listening to Peter's lecture.

* * *

"Monster! Demons! Prowlers of the night!" Professor Port said in an overly-dramatic manner. "Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many name, but I merely refer to them as _prey_! Ha-ha!" No one reacted, causing the portly professor to look a little uncomfortable. Weiss was trying her best to pay attention, but she just had so much on her mind. First on the list was Ruby, dozing off in the seat nest to her. She was a leader! She should act like it! Sure, she can really hold her own in a fight, and she did a decent job getting her brute of a sister off Weiss's back earlier in the morning, but there was more to being a leader than that! She can't just sleep in class! She needs to be an example for the others to follow!

"Uh," the professor stuttered, noticing that the students were not reacting to his drama the way he wanted them to. "And you shall, too, upon graduating from this prestigious academy! Now, as I was saying: Vale, as well as the other three kingdoms, are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world! Our planet is absolutely _teeming_ with creatures that would love nothing more than to tear you to pieces! And that's where we come in. Huntsmen! Huntresses! Individuals who have sworn to protect those who cannot protect themselves! From what, you ask? Why, the very world!"

One student tried to cheer for him, but was discouraged by the other students' lack of a reaction.

"That is what you are training to become. But first: a story. A tale of a young, handsome man…Me! When I was a boy…"

Despite Weiss's best effort, she couldn't keep paying attention to the professor anymore once his lecture turned into a personal _long_ anecdote. She looked to her right at Ruby, who was doodling on a piece of paper. Ruby had positioned herself in between Weiss and the other two members of their team. Whether it was a coincidence, or deliberate on Ruby's part so Weiss didn't have to sit next to them was unknown, but Weiss wasn't going to complain.

Which brings us to Weiss's other two problems that were occupying all her attention: Yang and Blake. While she had her problems with Ruby's fitness for the leadership position, at least Ruby was making an effort to be civil, even friendly. She couldn't say the same about the other two. First off, there was that blonde-haired, foul-mouthed reprobate that her leader called a sister. Where dis she get off acting the way she did?! Who blows a whistle in someone's ear to wake them up?! And she the gall to act offended when she was reprimanded accordingly! She had never met someone so uncouth, undisciplined, and just overall nasty in her life.

The worst one of all had to be Weiss's own partner, Blake. Even thought they were supposed to be partners, the black-haired girl treated Weiss as an enemy for no good reason. The girl clearly had some kind of problem with her family, some perceived slight maybe that she feels convinced the Schnee family committed against her, but Weiss had absolutely nothing to do with whatever she was mad about. And then there were her words in the forest. She thought Weiss was some helpless, sheltered little princess that always got everything she ever wanted and couldn't so anything for herself.

She hadn't gotten everything she ever wanted! She had to fight tooth and nail just to get her father to agree to let her become a Huntress, let alone leave Atlas to do it! She even had a scar to do it! How dare she talk about her like she knew her! She knew nothing!

"The moral of this story?" she managed to tune back into the professor's story as it was seemingly wrapping up. "A True Huntsman must be honorable!"

Weiss had honor.

"A true Huntsman must be dependable!"

Weiss was dependable.

"A true Huntsman must be strategic, well-educated, and wise!"

Weiss knew she could do it. She could be a true Huntress.

If anybody thought she couldn't do it?

Then she'd prove them wrong.

All of them.

"So, who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?"

"I do, sir!" Weiss said without hesitation, throwing her hand up in the air. She caught the attention of the whole class, just as she intended, including the new professor, Professor Branwen, she thought it was, who looked at her with intrigue.

"Well, then, let's find out!" Professor Port said, gesturing to a cage in the corner of the room, which was shaking from the struggles of whatever was inside of it.

Wait, had that cage always been there?

"Step forward, and face your opponent!" With a determination that she hadn't felt in a long time, Weiss descended the steps.

**AN: I decided to split up the chapters covering the events of The Badge and the Burden because that stuff that I added before they wake up Weiss made the chapter way longer than I thought it would be. **

**So, Aqua is going to be teaching Advanced Combat and Team Tactics. It wasn't mentioned yet, but she will also be using it to teach her students about the Heartless.**

**Someone said in the reviews that Weiss wouldn't have a problem with Ruby being the team leader since she proved herself in initiation, but that's not necessarily true. She acknowledges that Ruby is really strong, but she believes that there's more to being a leader than that. She doesn't resent Ruby like she does in canon, and most of her problem with Ruby's leadership position has less to do with Ruby herself and more with the fact that the leader isn't Weiss. Plus, Ruby is the least of her problems with the rest of her team, since she has MUCH bigger problems with Blake and Yang.**

**So, next chapter will cover Te Badge and the Burden Part 2, and then we'll delve into some purely original content. I'm looking forward to it.**

**As always, thanks for reading, and I'll see you all next time!**


	17. Chapter 17

**AN: Bit of a shorter chapter this time, since all we have to cover is Badge and the Burden Part 2. I hope you guys like what I did here. **

**Also, big news. At the time of this upload, this story is the ninth most favorited story in the RWBY/KH! Thank you guys so much! It means so much to me that you guys love this story that much!**

**And now, without any further ado, on with the chapter!**

**TW: Sexual harassment (not really sure if this is necessary, but just to be safe).**

Chapter 17

Aqua looked nervously at the rattling cage while they waited for Weiss to come back from changing into her combat gear.

"So, uh, what exactly is in there?" She asked Peter.

"Why, a Grimm, obviously!" he answered in his usual jovial tone.

"Oh." She said. "Wait a minute. Grimm die in captivity. How'd you catch one and manage to keep it in a cage?"

"Very carefully," Peter said. "Ah, it seems Miss Schnee has returned."

* * *

Ruby watched from her seat as Weiss walked back into the room, her white dress on and rapier in hand. She raised her weapon while glaring at the rattling cage. Ruby could hear some voices snickering from the seats behind her.

"This should be good," she heard a boy say.

"It'll be fun to watch a Schnee get knocked down a peg," another one said. Those jerks. How could they possibly be excited to see someone lose?

"You got this, Weiss!" She called down to the heiress. She looked at her other two teammates, and wasn't pleased with what she saw.

Blake was reading a book, and Yang was scrolling through her scroll, neither of the two paying attention to Weiss's imminent fight.

"Guys, come on," she said. "Aren't you gonna cheer her on?"

"Nope," Yang said simply.

"I'm sure she can manage just fine without my encouragement," Blake said without looking up from her book.

"But—" Ruby tried to argue, but she was interrupted by the professor.

"Alright!" he shouted, lifting up a Blunderbuss with two axe blades at the hilt. Mom was standing at the ready by his side, clearly ready to step in if things got bad. "Let the match begin!" he brought the weapon down, breaking the lock on the cage. The Grimm trapped inside immediately charged at Weiss. It was shaped like a wild boar, identifying it as an aptly-named Boarbatusk. She deflected the Grimm's attack with her weapon before rolling away, raising her rapier again to prepare for its next attack. The Boarbatusk chose not to press the attack, instead just watching her.

"Ha ha!" the bombastic laugh of Professor Port echoed throughout the room. "Wasn't expecting _that_, were you?"

"Hang in there, Weiss!" Ruby cheered for her teammate, sending a pointed glare at her sister and Blake for still refusing to cheer her on.

Weiss summoned a glyph and used it to propel herself towards the Boarbatusk, pointing the end of her rapier at the monster's head. However, her weapon became lodged in the Grimm's tusks when they collided, causing the monster to wrestle her to the ground.

"A bold, new approach. I like it!" the professor said, completely baffling Ruby, and Mom, too, by the looks of it. Did he seriously think she was doing this on purpose?

"You can do it, Weiss!" Ruby called out, trying her best to encourage her teammate. She glared again at her remaining two teammates. "Guys, some encouragement, please."

"Fine," Yang huffed, looking down to the arena. "Come on, Boarbatusk! Kick her ass!"

"Yang!" Ruby yelled angrily.

Weiss looked up at her team after Yang spoke, and Ruby could swear she looked genuinely hurt, but the Grimm took the opportunity to rip her rapier out of her hands and use its tusks to knock her back.

"Oh-ho!" the professor said almost tauntingly. "Now what will you do without your weapon?" Ruby heard the voices from behind her laughing at Weiss again, Yang joining in this time, and Blake still reading and not watching. Mom looked ready to step in at any second.

The Boarbatusk rolled into a ball and charged at Weiss, who rolled out of the way, allowing the Grimm to crash into the desk. Ruby really hoped her team wouldn't have to pay for that. Weiss dove for her sword, and managed to retrieve it while the Boarbatusk was down.

"Weiss! Go for its belly!" Ruby yelled. "There's no armor underneath—!"

"Shut up!" Weiss screamed, making Ruby stop and stare at her in shock. "Just shut up! I don't need your help!" The Boarbatusk rolled itself into a ball again while Weiss wasn't looking. She turned around and raised her rapier again, ready to act. Right before it hit her, Weiss summoned a white glyph directly in front of her, knocking the Grimm onto its back. She summoned a black glyph in the air behind her, turned it blue, and launched herself at the downed Boarbatusk, impaling it in the stomach. It squealed and collapsed before disappearing.

"Bravo!" the professor cheered, and Mom visibly relaxed. "Bravo! It appears we are indeed in the presence of a true Huntress-in-training!" Weiss stood up, facing Professor Port. "I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today. Be sure to cover the assigned readings, and stay vigilant! Class dismissed!"

The students began packing up their notebooks and filed out of the room, Weiss storming off in a huff, not bothering to look at any of her teammates. Ruby packed her stuff up quickly and followed her out of the room.

* * *

"Weiss!" Ruby called out to the heiress after chasing her out into the hallway. The white-haired girl ignored her and kept stomping down the hall. "Weiss! Wait!"

"What do you want?!" Weiss snapped.

"I just want to talk," Ruby pleaded. "I'm sorry about Yang."

"I don't want to hear your apologies. She's your sister and you're the team leader. If you can't even keep her under control, then maybe you're not cut out to be leader."

"Weiss, please, if we can just talk—"

"There's nothing to talk about!" Weiss snapped, interrupting her. "This team is never going to work, Ruby. Half the team hates me, and we have an inexperienced child as a leader. The first chance I get, I am going to speak to Professor Ozpin about changing teams, because frankly, I deserve better than teammates that don't care if I lived or died." Ruby's eyes widened after hearing that. Did it really look to her like the rest of the team didn't care about her?

"Weiss, I care about you," Ruby said. "I care about this whole team and I want to make it work. So please, just talk to us."

"Just leave me alone," Weiss said quietly before continuing to walk down the hall. Ruby looked sadly at the floor for a few seconds before deciding that she needed to talk to Yang about her behavior.

* * *

Yang had a very different reason for following that stuck-up snob out of class. Where did that bitch get off yelling at Ruby like that? No one spoke to her little sister that way. She stepped out of the classroom, determined to find the heiress and teach her a lesson. Thanks to her sister's Semblance, she had left before Yang, so she had some catching-up to do. Parting ways with Blake, who wanted nothing to do with the heiress, Yang marched down the hall, trying to figure out where Ruby and Weiss went, when a large body suddenly stepped in front of her.

"Hey there," a tall boy with slicked-back dark red hair said. He was wearing the standard Beacon men's uniform, a black gold-trimmed suit with a red tie. He pressed his arm up against the wall, leaning on it and placing himself directly in Yang's way. "The name's Cardin. And you are…"

"Not interested," she said, trying to move past him. He pressed his other arm against the wall, positioning Yang between the wall and himself.

"Now don't be like that," he said, leaning his face close to hers. "I think you and I could have a lot of fun. What do you say?"

"I'd say you need to back off," Yang said, getting more and more aggravated. This moron was in her way from giving Weiss the beating of her life. She didn't have time to deal with his sad attempt at flirting.

"Come on, don't be a tease," he said, the tone of his voice indicating that he was getting angry with her.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Look at you," he said, his eyes roaming up and down her body. "You're clearly looking for some action. If you don't want it from me, then who's that outfit for, huh?"

"It's for no one, jackass."

"Bullshit."

"Yang, what's going on?" Yang heard Ruby ask. She looked to the side and saw her sister standing next to her and Cardin, a concerned look in her eyes.

"Fuck off, pipsqueak," Cardin said, roughly shoving Ruby with one hand. "Can't you see she's busy?" Yang saw red, and a crunch noise resounded throughout the hallway. Cardin fell to the ground, holding his cheek in pain. "Ah, you bitch!" he said, glaring back up at Yang, her fist still extended from the punch she had just thrown. "What was that for?!"

"Don't you _ever_ fucking touch my sister again, do you hear me?!" Yang screamed, her hair lighting on fire. He slowly stood up, his fierce glare never leaving her eyes.

"I don't think you know who you're messing with," he growled.

"Do I look like I care?"

"You will."

"What's going on over here?" a new voice said. Yang, Ruby, and Cardin recognized it as belonging to Professor Ozpin. "Is there a problem?" Yang and Cardin glared at each other for a few seconds before Cardin finally answered.

"No, sir," he said. "There's no problem. Is there?" Yang kept glaring before finally shaking her head. Cardin turned around, sending her one last glare, and walked away.

Ruby watched the boy walk away before turning to her sister. "Yang, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she said, her eyes returning to her usual lilac color and the fire in her hair dissipating. "He was nothing I couldn't handle."

"I feel I should remind you, Miss Xiao Long, that if you are having any problems with another student, Miss Goodwitch's combat class does allow you to issue challenges," Professor Ozpin said with a knowing smirk. "I feel it is vastly preferable to students picking fights in the hallways. Less damaging to the school grounds, too."

"Thanks, Professor," Yang said, returning his smirk. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Now then, if that is all…?" he asked, leaving it up for them to chime in.

"Actually, Professor," Ruby said, pressing her index fingers together nervously. "I was wondering…" he raised an eyebrow, his cue for her to continue. "Why did you make me team leader?"

"It's very simple," he said nonchalantly. "I saw the potential in you to do great things."

"But, shouldn't the position have gone to someone more experienced?" she asked. "This team is a mess, and I'm not sure I can fix it."

"Ruby, it's only been a day," Professor Ozpin said as if her concerns were the silliest things he had ever heard. "No one is a great leader right away. It takes hard work, dedication, and teammates willing to stand with you. You may not feel you're ready to lead now, but in time, I'm certain the rest of your team will come to trust and rely on you, and you will truly blossom into your role. Believe me when I say that I've made more mistakes than any man, woman, and child on this world. But I would not consider your appointment as leader to be one of them."

"Really?" Ruby asked, her face lighting up.

"Really," he said, offering her a friendly smile. "Now then, I really must be off. First day paperwork and all that. A Headmaster's work is never done." He turned around, and walked down the hall, leaving the sisters alone.

"What was that about?" Yang asked.

"What was what about?"

"You doubting yourself," Yang clarified. "Why did you think you weren't cut out to be leader?" Her eyes widened. "Wait a minute, Weiss told you you weren't good enough, didn't she? Oh, when I get my hands on her…"

"Yang, don't you think you should go easy on her?" Ruby asked her sister, trying her best to make her voice sound stern.

"Why the hell should I?" Yang asked. "You saw how she's been acting since the minute we met her."

"But you don't have to antagonize her like you've been doing today," Ruby said.

"What do you mean I've been antagonizing her?" Yang asked, clearly offended at her sister's words.

"You woke her up by blowing a whistle in her ear this morning," Ruby said, counting on her fingers, "You tried to fight her in our dorm room, and in class, you cheered for the Boarbatusk. The _Boarbatusk_, Yang!"

"Well maybe if she hadn't acted like such a bitch, I wouldn't mess with her like this!"

"She's our teammate, Yang," Ruby pleaded. "We have to give her a chance."

"Ruby, trust me," Yang said. "People like her will never change. I don't even know why you're defending her. She treated you like crap when we got here. As far as I'm concerned, she will never be a teammate of mine." Without giving Ruby a chance to say anything else, Yang turned around and walked off, leaving her sister to look down at the ground dejectedly.

* * *

Aqua was walking back to her office, contemplating whether or not she should make sure that Glynda was aware of Peter siccing Grimm on his students (how he managed to capture one he still hadn't explained). She also wondered why he gave Weiss so much praise for her frankly subpar performance fighting the Boarbatusk. Peter himself had told her the first night that part of their job was to curb the egos of the students and heaping undeserved praise was pretty much the exact opposite of that.

She had heard the things Yang had said during class, her refusal to support her teammate was bad enough, but then she cheered for the _Grimm_ of all things. She would definitely need to talk to her later. She knew her oldest daughter could be brash and sometimes rude, but she'd never been this bad before. It was honestly a little concerning. She could see that what happened had really hurt the girl, so she hoped that Yang just didn't notice and wasn't actively trying to be mean.

As she continued walking down the hallway, she walked past an entranceway into one of the Academy's courtyards, where a certain white-haired girl was sitting by herself on a bench. Well, this presented an opportunity to start getting to the bottom of the problems plaguing her daughters' team. She stepped outside and approached the bench, coming up behind Weiss.

"Weiss Schnee, right?" Aqua asked as she approached. Weiss bristled before turning around to see who addressed her, but visibly relaxed when she realized it was Aqua.

"Oh, hello Professor," she said, a hint of sadness in her voice that she seemed to be trying desperately to hide. "Did you need anything?"

"I saw what happened in Professor Port's class," Aqua said, making the heiress flinch. "It was pretty rough."

"Professor Port seemed to think I performed well." Weiss said, her defenses raising a little bit.

"I wasn't referring to the fight," Aqua corrected, and Weiss's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "I was referring to your teammates."

"It's a small spat, I assure you," Weiss said. "It's nothing to worry about."

"Is that why you're sitting by yourself on a bench looking like you're trying really hard not to cry?" Weiss shrank in on herself when Aqua asked that.

"I-I'm not sure what you're talking about."

"Weiss, I'm a mom," Aqua said matter-of-factly. "Have been for ten years. I know by now how to recognize when something's bothering someone. Besides, now I'm a teacher, too. Helping out my students is part of my job. Even the ones I haven't had in class yet." She sat down next to Weiss and looked her in the eyes. "So, what's wrong?" Weiss looked down at the ground, clasping her hands together nervously. She let out a deep sigh.

"I think coming here was a mistake," she said quietly.

"What makes you say that?" Aqua asked.

"It's my team. Half of them hate me and our leader can't seem to stop them from making their hatred known. This just isn't turning out the way I had hoped."

"How did you hope it was going to go?"

"Well, I had hoped to be the leader actually," she said a little sheepishly. Aqua's raised eyebrow made her blush in embarrassment. "Yes, I know, with the team I have there'd be no way they'd listen to me. But you have to understand, I'm a Schnee. There are a lot of expectations placed on me. My father expects nothing less than perfection from me."

"I can imagine," Aqua said.

"But the leader we do have can't seem to keep the other two under control," Weiss continued, almost as if she was just talking without remembering that Aqua was even there. "And if I'm being perfectly honest, I feel kind of bad about criticizing her since she's the only one that's even attempted to be nice to me."

"What have they been doing?"

"Well, my partner, Blake, has just been completely ignoring my existence. I have absolutely no idea what her problem with me is, but we got into an argument during initiation about my family and she's barely spoken a word to me since. That blonde brute, Yang, though, is even worse." Aqua had to hold back her flinch at Yang being called a brute. While she didn't like her daughter being talked about like that, she had to start getting to the bottom of why she's been behaving this way.

"What has she done?" she asked, almost afraid of the answer.

"She woke me up this morning by blowing a whistle in my ear. She got defensive when I got mad, and things got worse from there." Ah. That was it. She reacted badly to one of Yang's pranks and probably said something that made her angry.

"Did you say anything to her in particular?"

"No!" Weiss said automatically. "Well, okay, yes. I did make some remarks about her outfit that were, in hindsight, a little uncalled-for."

"And did you ever say anything bad about Ruby?" she asked, remembering the multiple fights that the sisters got into with Weiss on orientation day. The ashamed look on Weiss's face said everything. "That would probably do it. Yang is incredibly protective of Ruby, so saying something about her is probably what set her off. Look, Ruby and Yang aren't the kind of people to be mean to someone for no reason. In fact, I don't think Ruby has a mean bone in her body. While I can't speak for Blake, I think you just got off on the wrong foot with them. If you just apologize and explain to them that you didn't appreciate Yang's prank, I'm sure that you guys can start being proper teammates."

"How do you know them so well?" Weiss asked.

"Well, I'm technically not supposed to tell you this, but since you're their teammate, you'll probably learn this eventually anyway. They're my daughters." Weiss just looked at her for a few seconds.

"Huh?" she elegantly asked. "But you look so young!"

"Why thank you," Aqua said with a smirk. "I'm only 28. But I'm not their birth mother. I've been taking care of them for the last decade, so I pretty much became 'mom'. So trust me, they're nice girls. You just have to make it up to them. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to finish getting things ready for my class," Aqua said, standing up and smoothing out her skirt. "Oh, and, I know that you're disappointed about not being leader, but even the best leaders are nothing without supportive teammates. I'm worried about Ruby, so can you promise me that you'll be a good teammate for her?"

"I think I can do that," Weiss said. "Thanks, Professor."

"Anytime," Aqua said, and turned around to head back to her office.

* * *

Night had already fallen by the time Weiss made it back to her dorm room. Blake was still up, reading a book, and Yang was looking at her scroll. She could hear light snoring coming from Ruby's bunk. Without saying anything to her other teammates, she climbed up to her leader's bunk and gently shook her awake. To her surprise, the girl had a few open textbooks in her bed and seemed to have fallen asleep while writing something, if the pen in her hand and the now drool-soaked paper next to her face were any indication.

Gross, by the way.

Ruby slowly opened her eyes, seeing Weiss looking at her.

"Weiss?" she asked, still a little groggy. "What's up?"

"Is it okay if we have a team meeting?" Weiss asked. "There's something I need to say to all of you."

"Sure," Ruby said, hopping off her bunk. "Come on, guys," she said to Yang and Blake.

"This should be good," Yang said sarcastically, putting her scroll down and hopping down from her bunk as well. Blake simply placed a bookmark in her book and got up.

"So?" Blake asked once the girls were all gathered in the middle of the room. "What did you have to say to us?" Weiss took a deep breath. This was it.

Moment of truth.

"I'm sorry," she said, bowing her head slightly. "The way I've acted over the last few days has been simply atrocious." She looked up and saw the shocked expressions on her teammates' faces. Well, Yang and Blake were shocked, at least. Ruby had a pleasant smile on her face. She looked at Ruby first. "Ruby, I'm sorry for yelling at you on orientation day. The Dust explosion _was_ my fault. I was just too proud to admit it. I shouldn't have yelled at you and I never should have questioned your competency just because you're younger. There's clearly a reason Professor Ozpin allowed you to enroll early. I promise from here on out I will do everything in my power to support you."

"Aw, Weiss," Ruby said happily. Weiss turned to Yang next.

"Yang, I never should have said those horrible things to you this morning. While I was angry about being woken up by that whistle, calling you a…you know, that thing I called you…was entirely out of line. I'm sorry. Just please no more whistle," she added quickly.

"Just one thing," Yang said. Weiss looked up at her hopefully. "Did you mean what you said about supporting Ruby?"

"Absolutely," Weiss said, nodding her head vigorously.

"Then we shouldn't have any more problems," Yang said, giving Weiss a small smirk.

"Ahem," Ruby said. "Don't you have something else, Yang?"

"Ugh, fine," Yang said, hanging her head in disappointment. "No more whistles."

"Thank you," Weiss said, finally looking at Blake.

"Blake," she said, looking her right in her amber eyes. "While I'm not sure why you dislike my family so much, it probably has something to do with my father. I can assure you, I don't want to be _anything_ like him. My father has abused the Schnee name in any way he can to make himself richer, not caring who he steps on along the way. I never want to be like that, and I realized that for the last few days, that's exactly what I was. I just want you to know that I want to change. I want this partnership to work. I want this _team_ to work. So, what do you say? Can we start over?" Blake was silent for a few seconds.

"I misjudged you," she finally said. "I do have a reason to despise the SDC, but you're right. You're not your company. I should apologize, too. I'm sorry for lumping you in with everyone else. As long as you promise that you'll be better than your family's reputation, I think we can work something out." Weiss couldn't help the huge smile that plastered itself on her face.

"I gotta say, I'm pleasantly surprised, Ice Queen," Yang said, gaining back her trademark smirk. "I didn't think you had it in you."

"Can we please stop with the 'Ice Queen' thing?" Weiss asked. "I'm sure I've thawed enough by now." Yang's eyes widened.

"Did you just…?" She didn't get to finish her question, as Weiss was engulfed in a hug by their leader.

"TEAM RWBY GROUP HUG!" the girl shouted, pulling Weiss close.

"Let go of me, you dolt," Weiss yelled, only semi-seriously. "I never said anything about hugging!"

"Come on, Weiss Cream," you know you like it, Yang said, lifting both girls off the group with ease and pulling them into a hug.

"What in the world did you just call me?!"

"Blake, get in on this!" Yang called, completely ignoring Weiss. Blake just rolled her eyes and silently joined in the hug, a small smile on her face.

"Don't expect this to be a regular thing," the black-haired girl said.

"Team RWBY is gonna rock!" Ruby yelled excitedly.

Weiss honestly had to admit, while she could do without the noise, being on this team with these people…

It was nice. She could finally see that now.

**AN: I can totally see Cardin being the kind of guy to try to pull something like this with Yang. He's already a bully and a racist, so being a creep too just fits perfectly with his character. People tend not to have just one asshole trait.**

**So, we have Team RWBY make up fully, and I hope you guys liked how it happened. Both Weiss's discussion with Aqua and the team meeting.**

**We're gonna do some original content before we get to the Jaundice episodes, so look forward to that.**

**As always, thanks for reading, and I'll see you next time!**


	18. Chapter 18

**AN: Hey, everybody. Shorter chapter this time, but I figured that where it ended was a great spot, so I hope you guys don't mind too much. **

**If I could also make a recommendation for you guys to read a story, I would ask you guys to check out a story called Kingdom Hearts RWBY by XenoBlaze. I helped them out by providing some story suggestions, so it would be cool if you guys gave it a look-see. **

**Anyways that's enough out of me. Enjoy!**

Chapter 18

"Ruby," Weiss called up to her from her desk. Ruby was sitting up on her bunk, and looked over at Weiss when her name was called. She and her sister had come back from their morning exercise, and Pyrrha had once again joined them. Yang was still in the shower, and the other three girls were all in their uniforms.

"Yeah?" She asked.

"You're available after classes today, correct?"

"Yes?" Ruby said, eyes narrowing suspiciously. Why did Weiss want to know if she was available? "You're not going to ask me on a date, are you?" Weiss started screeching indignantly, and Ruby could hear Blake drop her book. "I know we made up and everything, but don't you think you're moving a little too fast?"

"Stop being a pest!" Weiss yelled, crossing her arms and turning her head to look away from Ruby. "I was only going to ask you to study together, but forget it! Get caught up on your own if you're going to be a nuisance."

"Wait, what do you mean, 'get caught up'?"

"You skipped ahead two years," Weiss explained. "That means there's plenty of material you didn't get the chance to learn that you'll still be expected to know. I assumed you'd want me to help you go over it so you can get caught up faster, but just forget it."

"Aw, thanks, Weiss!" Ruby said, smiling happily at the heiress. "Yeah, we can do it tonight."

"Did you not hear me?" Weiss asked angrily. "I said forget it!"

"Blake, do you want in on this?" Ruby asked the black-haired girl.

"There is nothing for her to get 'in' on!" Weiss said, clearly frustrated.

Boy, it was fun to mess with her.

"I'll pass," Blake said.

"Wait, why don't you want to join?" Weiss asked. What ever happened to there not being a study session?

"I study better on my own," Blake said simply.

"Aw, I wanted to make it a team thing," Ruby said sadly. It would be a perfect opportunity for the newly united team to bond, after all.

"Make what a team thing?" Yang asked, having finally emerged from the bathroom in her uniform. Well, her modified uniform anyway.

"Team study session," Ruby responded.

"Lame," Yang said.

"Well _some_ of us care about catching Ruby up on her studies, so I supposed it will be just the two of us," Weiss said haughtily.

"Go right ahead, Weiss Cream," Yang said with a smirk, ignoring Weiss's demand that she stop calling her that. "Anyway, now that the boring stuff's over, we wanted to know if you guys wanted to start working out in the mornings."

"We've been doing it with Pyrrha the last few days, and she said she'd ask her team if they wanted to join us, too," Ruby elaborated.

"So like a joint team workout?" Blake asked.

"I don't see why not," Weiss said. "A little extra training never hurt anyone."

"With your scrawny arms, you look like you could use it," Yang said jokingly.

"Hey!"

"I'm in too," Blake said.

"Great!" Ruby said, pulling out her scroll. "I'll just let her know and then we can head to class."

* * *

Pyrrha stepped out of the bathroom in her uniform, stepping out into the main room of Team JNPR's dorm. Nora was bouncing on her bed excitedly, like usual, Ren was meditating, and Jaune was…looking at his scroll. Not doing the homework that he still hadn't done, not studying for the class she noticed him fall asleep in, just looking at his scroll. Sure, Nora and Ren weren't currently doing anything productive either, but Pyrrha knew for a fact that they had both already done their homework. She frowned inwardly before addressing her team.

"So, everybody," she said, getting their attention. "I've been exercising in the mornings with Ruby and Yang, and they were wondering if all of you would be willing to join us from now on."

"I thought you'd NEVER ask!" Nora said happily. "I love working out!"

"Someone has to make sure Nora doesn't go overboard…" Ren said. "…again. So count me in."

"Great!" Pyrrha said, happy for the chance for her team to interact with Ruby and Yang's team. She looked over at her leader.

"What about you, Jaune?" she asked. "Will you be joining us?"

"That's early in the morning, right?" he asked, a concerned look on his face.

"Well, of course," she said. "We have to do them before class starts, after all."

"Um, you guys can go without me," he said.

"Are you sure?" Pyrrha asked, genuinely surprised that he would decline extra training and bonding time with his team.

"Yeah, you guys have fun."

"Aw, come on, fearless leader," Nora urged. "It won't be the same without you."

"No, really. I'm good." He said. Pyrrha could see the disappointment on Ren and Nora's faces. She felt plenty of disappointment herself, but didn't let it show. At that moment, she got a notification from her scroll. She took a look at it, and smiled at the confirmation Ruby sent her that the rest of Team RWBY wanted to join in on the workouts.

"That was Ruby," she said. "Looks like Blake and Weiss agreed to join us."

"Weiss will be there?" Jaune asked, looking hopeful.

"If Ruby's text is correct, then yes, she will be."

"I'm in," he said quickly.

"Really?" Pyrrha asked, blinking in surprise.

"Yup," he said. "Exercising sounds fun."

His teammates were thoroughly unimpressed.

* * *

"So, Yang's getting detention?" Aqua asked Glynda. She was meeting with them, like she had first thing in the morning for the past few days to discuss the final details of her class. However, Glynda instead decided to start with a piece of bad news.

"Correct," the deputy Headmistress said. "Peter said that while Miss Schnee was fighting a Boarbatusk during his class, Miss Xiao Long decided it was appropriate to cheer for the Grimm. She left the classroom before he could stop her, however, so I will be issuing her detention when she is in my combat class later this afternoon."

"Fair enough," Aqua said.

"In other Xiao Long-related news," Ozpin chimed in, "I have placed the order for her new uniforms, so she can stop modifying hers."

"Thank you," Aqua said. "I'll let her know."

"Now then," Ozpin said, pulling up a list of students on his Scroll and projecting the screen so it hovered above his desk. Despite being exposed to the technology for 10 years and ostensibly being used to it, scrolls never ceased to amaze Aqua. "I have your roster for your class." 16 portraits were displayed on the screen. She recognized quite a few of them. "Since this is advanced combat, we decided that only a select few teams would be permitted to attend your class. We selected the three first-year teams that scored the highest during initiation, and a second-year team so you meet the minimum of 16 students required for the class. I imagine the second-year team will also be able to assist you in class and help out the first-years, since they are older. Let's go over the roster, shall we?" He highlighted four portraits, and they enlarged.

"This first team should be very familiar to you," he said. "Team RWBY. Thanks to your youngest daughter's leadership, they scored the highest during initiation, and thus were allowed to enroll in your class. We already know what Miss Rose is capable of, and her sister appears equally as powerful, if more rough around the edges. Miss Belladonna clearly has received extensive combat training, but Miss Schnee's combat abilities appear to be more lacking than what I would expect from someone in her position." he said.

"I noticed that, too," she said. "Her fighting style seems awfully sloppy for the kind of training her family can afford. I'll keep an eye on her."

"Very good," Ozpin said, changing the display to the next team. "Next is the second-highest-scoring team, Team JNPR. Obviously, Miss Nikos will have much to provide to the class, and Miss Valkyrie and Mister Ren already have excellent teamwork. However, Mister Arc's performance is rather concerning. I imagine he'll need extra attention."

"Definitely," Aqua agreed. "I just hope he can pick things up quickly, or else he could really end up holding his entire team back. That can be fatal."

"I agree," Ozpin said, changing the images yet again. "Moving on, we have the third and final first-year team, Team CRDL. They were the third highest-scoring team during initiation, which makes them eligible to enroll in your class. However, I have my concerns about this team, particularly their team leader."

"I recognize him," Aqua said, seeing that his name was "Cardin Winchester". "I'm pretty sure I saw him ogling Glynda and me before initiation started." She heard Glynda huff angrily next to her.

"I was afraid of that," Ozpin sighed. "Mister Winchester's father is a long-time member of Vale's council. Unfortunately, that means that he has been able to act with relative impunity for years and has a bit of a reputation as a trouble-maker, a reputation he is already beginning to live up to. According to reports, he tends to bully others. He also has a history of sexual harassment and racism complaints against him that his father was able to make sure never went anywhere. It seems the young Mister Winchester thinks that this behavior will continue at Beacon. It's our job to disabuse him of that notion."

"It would be a disaster if someone with his attitude becomes a Huntsman," Aqua said, looking at Cardin's portrait in anger. "Especially since you said he's acted racist. I can see that ending poorly if he ever has to defend a mostly-Faunus settlement."

"Indeed. There are usually a few applicants whom enter this school with delusions of grandeur or some racist beliefs, but most of them either don't make it or have that attitude beaten out of them. Metaphorically speaking, of course. Mister Winchester, however, is a rather severe case. I hope we can resolve this matter without things getting ugly, as it were."

"Hopefully," Aqua said.

"And here we have our final team," Ozpin said, transitioning away from Team CRDL and to a team of students she had never seen before. At a glance, there was a girl with a beret and sunglasses, a rabbit Faunus, a large boy, and a heavily scarred boy that appeared to be blind. "This is Team CVFY, and they are the second-year team I told you about. In fact, they are among the best that the second years have to offer. They already have an established dynamic and incredible teamwork, so they should serve as fine examples for the first-years. Hopefully, under your tutelage, even they could learn a few new tricks."

"Well, I'll certainly try my best."

"Now then," Ozpin said, disabling the large projector screen, "since your class will be a supplement to what they will be learning in Glynda's combat class, you will be sitting in and observing any of her classes with your students and building upon what they learned, but emphasizing survival and teamwork. In addition, you will also be serving as her aid during regular combat class."

"Got it," Aqua said, giving a quick nod of her head.

"In addition, I want reports of the students' progress on a regular basis," Ozpin said, dampening Aqua's enthusiasm a little bit. Boy, that sounded like a lot of work. "Do you have any questions?" Aqua shook her head. "In that case. Glynda, I believe your first class will be starting shortly. I think you and Aqua should head to class now. Can't have the professors be late, now, can we?"

"Of course," Glynda said, giving a slight bow. "Right this way." The two women took their leave, leaving Ozpin alone in his office.

* * *

Once Glynda and Aqua were gone, Ozpin pulled up a new file on his computer.

_Codename: AUTUMN_

He opened up the file, and began typing.

_Ruby Rose: As a first impression, Ms. Rose has the talent and the will to help people, both admirable qualities. However, her silver eyes and possession of a Keyblade will inevitably make her a target, so at first glance she seems a poor choice to replace Amber. In addition, convincing Aqua to allow her to obtain the powers might be difficult. Requires further observation._

_Blake Belladonna: Due to her past with the White Fang, Miss Belladonna might be a poor choice of Maiden. Since she arrived at Beacon disguised as a human, we cannot rule out the possibility that she is a spy for the White Fang. Until her motives for enrolling at Beacon can be ascertained, she should only be considered as a last-resort option if no other viable candidates are chosen._

_Yang Xiao Long: Like her sister, Miss Xiao Long has immense skill. Due to the lack of a Keyblade and silver eyes, she would be better able to remain discreet compared to her sister. However, if she had to go into hiding, she would be required to be separated from her sister. In addition, there is still the problem of convincing Aqua to allow her to obtain the powers. If either sister is chosen, I might need to go over her head._

_ Pyrrha Nikos: Has immense talent. That would be useful in keeping the powers safe. However, her being in the public eye might present a problem when it comes to maintaining discretion. _

_Nora Valkyrie: Strong potential candidate. If the combat skills she's displayed so far are any indication, she has the power to protect herself. In addition, her background revealed that she is an orphan, so in the event that she must go to ground, there is no family to miss her. She seems to share a strong connection with Lie Ren. Their devotion to each other could be used to our advantage. In addition to gaining a Maiden in Miss Valkyrie, we could also gain a guardian in Mister Ren._

_Coco Adel: One of the strongest second-years. One of the biggest obstacles is the rapport Team CVFY has already established. Separating her from her team might be unwise in the long run. Losing Team CVFY as a front-line unit might be disastrous. If this decision had to be made last year, then Miss Adel would have been the obvious choice._

_Velvet Scarlatina: Her more timid nature and desire to stay out of the spotlight would be great assets for maintaining her cover, but I have doubts about her ability to fend for herself if she had to. Like Miss Adel, there is also the problem of breaking up Team CVFY._

_Aqua Branwen: At only 28 years old, she is still below the age threshold before Maiden powers can no longer be acquired. In addition, due to her pact of non-interference, it might be difficult to convince her to accept the powers. Only consider her as an absolute last resort if we are desperate._

_ Overall, based on preliminary observations, the candidate with the greatest potential is Nora Valkyrie._

He looked at the document and frowned. While he had a good feeling about Miss Valkyrie as a possible candidate, there were still 8 women to consider for Amber's replacement. The list needed to be narrowed down.

Time was running out, and whether she knew it or not, Aqua was going to help him make his decision.

* * *

Yang sat down near her team, back in her usual combat outfit, a pout on her face after being informed of her detention by the Dominatrix—I mean Goodwitch. So as it turns out cheering for the Boarbatusk during Port's class was a huge mistake. And here she was looking forward to Combat Class, but no, she had to start off what was supposed to be the best class ever (Besides Mom's, of course) with a detention. Even more embarrassing, Mom was there when she gave her the detention, since she was apparently observing this class, too.

This sucked.

She sat down next to Ruby, arms crossed, and took in the other students around her. As luck would have it, her team happened to have combat class with Team JNPR. This was perfect. She'd have an opportunity to spar with Pyrrha.

Her eyes narrowed when she spotted Dick Face. She was sure he had a name, but she just didn't care to remember it. Being in this class with Pyrrha was one thing, but she relished the chance to take a crack at him. He needed to learn a lesson about how to treat a woman, and she would love to send him that lesson at muzzle velocity. His eyes met hers, and he just gave her that _infuriating_ smirk. She stifled a growl as Goodwitch started talking.

"Good afternoon, students," she said, stepping into the center of the room. The room for Combat Class was designed differently from the other classrooms, as it was circular, with an elevated stage in the middle surrounded by spectator-style seating for the students. "As most of you know, my name is Glynda Goodwitch, and welcome to Combat Class. As you may can most likely tell from the title, in this class, your combat abilities will be put to the test. This class will entirely consist of a series of spars. They could consist of one-on-one, two-on-two, and so-on. In addition, starting next week, you will be allowed to issue challenges, but for now, the randomizer will decide matchups." This class was definitely going to be awesome. "For the actual spars themselves, we will be using tournament-style rules. That means fights will end when one combatant's Aura is reduced to 15%, one fighter is sent out of the ring, or I choose to end the match for any other reason." The professor looked around the class, her steely gaze scrutinizing all of them to make sure that they were paying attention before gesturing towards Mom, who was standing in the sidelines. "Professor Branwen will be observing this class, since some of you are enrolled in her Advanced Combat and Team Tactics class." Mom bowed slightly, and Yang's gaze fell on Dick Face, and she watched as he straight-up licked his lips at the sight of the two older women. She saw red briefly before composing herself. "I expect you all to treat her with the same respect you treat me."

She reached down to start messing with the large scroll she had tucked under her arm, and a large screen appeared above the stage.

"This is the randomizer," she said, and the screen displayed two blank rectangles. "For our next few classes, we will be solely using the randomizer to decide fights. By the end of this week, every single one of you will have fought at least once. Now, without wasting any more time, let us decide the first match." She pressed a button on her scroll, and the two rectangles started quickly cycling through students' portraits before finally settling on two of them.

Yang's face split into a wide grin.

"Our first match of the day will be Yang Xiao Long versus Cardin Winchester."

**AN: And I think I'll leave things here. Many of you wanted Yang to twist Cardin into a pretzel, as one reviewer put it, and here you go. You'll just have to wait until next chapter, though.**

**If you stop to think about it, I don't think canon Jaune really understood what being a Huntsman means. Not only did he fake his way in, he then made no effort once he got there to make up the difference between him and his classmates. Him falling asleep in Oobleck's class does not look like someone who was denied his dream for reasons outside of his control and had to resort to cheating just to get his foot in the door. It looked like someone who just couldn't be bothered. **

**While I was writing the scene where Ozpin is typing up his initial observations of his potential Maiden candidates, I realized that Nora actually makes a little bit more sense than Pyrrha for reason explained in the story. Now this does not necessarily mean that Opzin won't still change his mind and have it be somebody else besides Nora, but it's just something interesting to think about.**

**So, next time we'll have the battle you've all been waiting for: Yang vs. Dick Face- I mean Cardin.**

**As always, thanks for reading! I'll see you guys next time!**


	19. Chapter 19

**AN: Sorry that this took a little bit. I was having really bad abdominal pain for a couple weeks that made it really difficult to write. If it feels like this chapter is a bit directionless, that's why. I'm not entirely proud of the action here, either, unfortunately. Hopefully, it's a little better than last time, though.**

**The last section of this chapter was actually a little uncomfortable to write for me. You'll see why.**

**Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy!**

Chapter 19

Yang cracked her knuckles as she stood in the center of the arena, Ember Celica on her wrists. Dick Face stood across from her, a large mace in his hand, but instead of his usual smirk, he simply glared at her. Aw, poor boy. He wasn't expecting a girl to stand up to him and now he's pissy.

She was going to enjoy this so much.

"Students," Goodwitch said, "Just to make sure everything is clear, I will explain the rules one more time. If either of your Auras drops to 15% or you leave the arena, the match will end. I will also step in to end a match if I deem it necessary. Am I understood?"

"Loud and clear," Yang said, giving her a mock salute.

"Got it," Dick Face said, hefting his mace over one shoulder. Yang smirked. There was his first mistake. He should know to never take such a relaxed stance against an opponent. This meant he was either overestimating himself or underestimating her.

Probably both.

This might be even more fun than she first thought.

"So, Dick Face," she said to him, garnering the desired reaction.

"What the hell did you just call me?" he growled. Yang could hear some snickers from the stands around her.

"Dick Face," she clarified. She could practically _feel_ both Goodwitch's and Mom's glares at her nickname for the worthless pile of crap in front of her, but she knew that if they saw what he tried to do, they would understand. "I think we both know how this is gonna end."

"Oh, really?" he asked. "And how's that?"

"With you flat on the floor like last time," she said with a smirk, watching as he got visibly angrier. "So why don't you just forfeit now and save everyone some time and yourself a whole lot of humiliation?"

"Oh, I am gonna enjoy putting that big mouth of yours to work, Blondie," he said, eliciting shocked gasps from the other students, mostly the girls. Yang just scoffed.

"How original," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Kick his butt, Yang!" Ruby yelled from her seat.

"If you two are quite done," the annoyed voice if Goodwitch chimed in, "We have a match to get to. We don't have all day." Yang and Dick Face both nodded, not taking their eyes off each other. "Begin!" Goodwitch shouted, and Dick Face made his second mistake.

He let his anger get the better of him. Uncle Qrow had always taught her and Ruby that people never fight smart when they're angry, so the best way to give yourself an immediate edge in combat was to do your best to piss off your opponent. She had met enough "macho" guys like him to know that the fastest way to piss them off was to go for their pride, and just like all the rest, his was _way_ too easy to bruise.

She knew she had pissed him off when he roared and charged at her, no finesse to his movements at all.

She ducked underneath his first wild swing, jabbing her fist into his side. He recovered faster than she expected him to, but still not fast enough. When he brought his mace down, she grabbed his wrist and punched him in the stomach, firing off her Ember Celica as she did. His body attempted to fall forward, but she didn't release her grip on his wrist, keeping him upright. She punched him in the face and flipped him over her shoulder.

He landed hard on his back, and she sat on his chest and punched him in the face again. Before she could get another punch in, he was able to bring his mace up and hit her in the side of the head, and a small explosion emanated from the mace head.

Yang was disoriented for a second, and that was all Dick Face needed to get his foot underneath her and kick her off. She rolled after hitting the ground, looking up at him. She had somehow missed the crystal in the center of the mace head, which was no doubt a Burn Dust crystal. That explained the explosion. But then something else got her attention.

Something smelled charred. Her eyes widening, she looked down and saw…

Black tips.

He made his third mistake…

He had _singed _her hair!

"You…" she growled, her vision turning red, her sign that her Semblance was kicking in. "You motherFUCKER!" She screamed, firing her gauntlets behind her to launch herself at the monster in front of her. She planned to humiliate him during this fight as payback for what he tried to do to her in the hallway, but now?

Now be needed to die.

She flew through the air, her gauntlets' recoil and sheer rage propelling her forward. When she reached him, she threw a shotgun-powered punch to his face, sending him falling backwards. His body moved to fall backwards away from her, but before he could, she grabbed his ankle and yanked him back toward her, punching him in the face again. This time, the force of the blow sent him straight into the floor of the arena, creating a small crater where he lay.

She was snapped out of her rage when she heard a loud buzzer sound off.

"That's enough," Goodwitch called from the sidelines. "As you can see, class, Mister Winchester's aura has entered the red, meaning that this match is over." Yang looked up at the monitor, and sure enough, Dick Face's aura was sitting at 11%, while hers was at 93%. She looked down at his prone form and smirked as he slowly pulled himself out of the crater in the floor, sending a venomous glare at her. "Can anybody tell the class what Mister Winchester did wrong?"

"He picked a fight with Yang?" Ruby asked from her seat, making Yang laugh. She wasn't wrong. Out of all the mistakes he had made, that was probably the biggest.

"Anybody else?" Goodwitch asked through grit teeth, her annoyance evident in her voice. No one answered. "He lost control of his emotions. Let this be a lesson to you, class. Many opponents will attempt to distract you with taunts. Do not let them get to you. However, Miss Xiao Long, in the future, please refrain from issuing such taunts in the future. This is sparring class, not a locker room."

"Yes, ma'am," Yang said.

"As for you, Mister Winchester, control yourself. You lost control of the match the second you let Miss Xiao Long's taunts affect you."

"Understood," he said, glaring at Yang like the sore loser he was.

"Professor Branwen, is there anything you would like to add?" Goodwitch asked, turning to Mom.

"I think you covered everything for Mister Winchester," Mom said. "As for Miss Xiao Long," Man it was weird hearing Mom refer to her like that, "You made the same mistake he did at the end, and lost your temper. You charged straight at him like a bull, and if you hadn't already thrown him off or if he was more skilled, then he could have countered you."

"Got it," she said, not too terribly stung by her own mother's criticism, since she did manage to insult Dick Face while she was at it.

"If that is all," Goodwitch said, "Then you two may return to your seats." Yang and Dick Face made to leave, but then Goodwitch stopped them. "Oh, and one more thing, you both have detention."

"What?!" Yang asked. She already _had_ detention, damn it!

"Why?!" Dick Face demanded.

"You, Mister Winchester, have detention because your sexist comments will not be tolerated."

"What sexist comments?"

"You said, and I quote, 'I can't wait to put that big mouth of yours to work', did you not?"

"Yeah, and?" he said, still not getting the hint.

"_That_ sexist comment, Mister Winchester. As for you, Miss Xiao Long, your profanity is unacceptable."

"But I already have detention," Yang protested.

"Then you will serve an extra day with me. Dismissed." They could tell from the tone of her voice that she would not tolerate any further arguments, so Yang and Dick Face just slumped off to their seats, while Goodwitch used her Semblance to fix the crater in the arena that Yang made.

"Great job, sis!" Ruby cheered for her after she sat back down.

"Shame about the detention, though," Blake chimed in.

"That's one way to take the wind out of my sails," Yang said.

"Well, maybe if you weren't so vulgar, that wouldn't have happened," Weiss said.

"Yeah, our uncle might have rubbed off on her a little too much," Ruby said with a giggle. "We were able to vacation in Mistral last year with the money from the swear jar."

"Hey, Uncle Qrow contributed plenty!" Yang defended herself.

"Regardless, I can't believe he was such a pig," Weiss commented, disgust clear in her voice. "What did you mean by 'last time', though when you were taunting him?"

"He tried coming onto me the other day and wouldn't take no for an answer," Yang said simply. "He then put his hands on Ruby, so I laid his ass out."

"Disgusting," Blake said.

"He got lucky then that all that happened was a humiliating loss and detention," Weiss said.

"Yeah, hopefully he learned his lesson," Ruby added.

"Somehow I don't think it'll be that easy," Blake said, looking up at Dick Face who was still sending Yang a hate-filled glare.

"Now then, class," Goodwitch said once the crater was fixed. "Let us move on to our next match." She pressed a button on her scroll and started the randomizer back up. After a few seconds, the pictures stopped. The anger at Dick Face was dropped and Team RWBY suddenly found themselves excited again. "The next match will be Ruby Rose vs. Pyrrha Nikos."

* * *

Pyrrha couldn't keep the grin off her face as she walked onto the arena in the middle of the classroom, Milo in her right hand and Akuou strapped to her left. Ruby and Yang were two classmates that she was looking forward to fighting, and she was happy that she was getting to fight one of them so soon. Especially since she was incredibly curious about that weapon of hers.

She was impressed by Yang's display against Cardin, so she was looking forward to seeing what her sister could do.

She saw her opponent standing across the arena from her, a confident smile on her face. That alone was refreshing for Pyrrha. Usually most people she fought against were dreading having to fight her, but Ruby looked genuinely excited.

"Okay, students," Professor Goodwitch announced, "The rules are the same as last time. You will fight until either of your auras falls below 15% or you fall out of the arena. Understood?"

"Understood," Ruby and Pyrrha responded in unison, getting into a ready position.

"Begin!" Professor Goodwitch shouted. Before Pyrrha could even blink, Ruby had transformed into a torrent of rose petals and was speeding towards her. Only Pyrrha's honed reflexes allowed her to get her shield up in time to stop the student-sized missile headed straight for her, but the impact was still enough to send her skidding backwards a few feet.

She pushed her shield forward to try to displace Ruby and open her up for a counter-attack, but to her surprise, she saw the red form of the girl flip over her head and land behind her. She turned around just in time to see the girl's weapon headed straight for her. She quickly reached out with her Semblance to redirect the sword.

Only nothing happened.

In a panic, Pyrrha tried to raise her shield to block the attack, but her failed attempt at using her Semblance left her with too little time to react. Ruby's weird sword that apparently _wasn't made of metal_ struck her in the chest, sending her stumbling back, leaving her open for a follow-up attack, which the red-cloaked girl capitalized on.

The second she had an opportunity to, Pyrrha rolled away and put some distance between herself and Ruby.

A hushed silence had fallen over the students watching the match. She imagined that they were stunned at seeing "The Invincible Girl" being forced to retreat like that, let alone actually being struck.

Which brought Pyrrha to the main issue. For some reason, Pyrrha's Semblance didn't work on Ruby's weapon. The only way that was possible was if it wasn't made out of metal. But that couldn't be. It certainly _felt_ like it was made of metal.

She needed a plan, and fast.

* * *

Ruby wasn't about to let her get a moment to catch her breath. She pointed the tip of her Keyblade at her opponent.

"Petalra!" She shouted, and a wave of rose petals larger than usual flew out of the tip of her Keyblade and bombarded the redhead across the arena. She saw Pyrrha raise her shield just in time, and was able to roll out of the way in time as a few bullets escaped the cascade of petals.

Two could play at that game.

Ruby shifted her Keyblade into its sniper rifle form and fired the second that Pyrrha left the cloud of rose petals. Her shield was still up, but the rifle shot carried enough impact to stop her in her tracks anyway. Another shot knocked the shield away, and Ruby charged, changing her Keyblade into it scythe form, Pyrrha was trying to recover as quickly as possible and get her shield back up, but Ruby knew it wouldn't be in time. She smirked as she closed in on her opponent…

"_Freak!_"

Ruby's eyes widened at the memory.

What was she doing? Why did she think _winning_ would be a good idea?!

At the last second, she redirected her attack so the blade of her scythe would get caught on Pyrrha's shield. The two girls struggled for a few seconds before Pyrrha threw Ruby back using her shield, the younger girl deliberately launching herself farther so she was sent flying outside the ring.

"And with a ring-out, Miss Nikos is the winner," Miss Goodwitch announced. Ruby just sat there, trying her hardest to not cry at the memory. "Miss Nikos, that was an excellent throw at the end there, and your reflexes are nothing short of impressive, given that you were able to block attacks that quickly."

"Thank you, Professor," Pyrrha said respectfully.

"Miss Rose, your speed and ability to keep Miss Nikos on her toes was impressive, but make sure that you're able to follow through with all of your attacks."

"Yes, Professor," Ruby said, her voice much smaller than she would like, much to her shame.

"Now then, you are both dismissed," Miss Goodwitch said, and Pyrrha calmly walked off the stage.

Ruby, however, exited the classroom in a Semblance-fueled burst of rose petals.

She didn't want anyone to see the tears.

* * *

"I'm going after her," Aqua told Glynda after seeing Ruby leave like that.

"What happened?"

"I'm not sure, but she was clearly upset about something."

"Fine," Glynda said, and Aqua took off after her daughter.

* * *

Ruby sat on her bunk, her knees pulled up to her chest, letting the tears flow freely. Things had been going so well, and then she had to start remembering Signal. The things people said. The way they used to look at her. The scorn.

She almost repeated her mistakes from Signal, and ruined everything. How could she be so stupid?! She couldn't win a match!

She heard a knock on the door.

"Go away!" she shouted, assuming it was Yang. There was a second knock. "I said go away!" A third knock. "Leave me alone, Yang!"

"It's not Yang," Mom's voice called from behind the door. Ruby was silent. "Wanna let me in?"

Ruby waited a few seconds before hopping off her bunk and quietly walking towards the door. She opened it up and let Mom in, the blue-haired Master taking a look around the room.

"So, this is what the dorm rooms look like," she observed, before her gaze stopped at the makeshift bunk beds. "I'm assuming these are your handiwork?" She asked.

"Mine and Yang's," Ruby answered sheepishly. Mom raised an eyebrow. "They're sturdier than they look." At that moment, one of the ropes holding Ruby's bed up decided to shift, making a creaking sound. "Ignore that," Ruby said quickly. Mom pinched the bridge of her nose.

"At least tell me you're not on the bottom bunks."

"We both took the top bunks," Ruby said. "Weiss and Blake are underneath us." When Mom's skeptical look didn't go away, Ruby decided to change the subject. "Why are you here?"

"You threw that fight," Mom said, freezing Ruby in her tracks. "There's only one reason why you'd do that. Are you okay?" With a huff, Ruby sat down on Weiss's bed.

"I don't know," she said. "I was fighting like normal, and really getting into it, but then I remembered what happened at Signal and panicked." She looked down at the floor for a few seconds. "What do I do?" Mom sat down next to Ruby and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

"There's a big difference between Beacon and Signal, sweetie," Mom said, pulling her daughter into a one-armed hug. "You have a team and friends here. People who will stand by you."

"I guess," Ruby mumbled.

"I know that the idea of showing people what you can really do scares you, but deliberately throwing fights isn't going to help. Your teammates need to have a good idea of what you're capable of. Besides, how do you think Pyrrha feels about you losing to her on purpose?"

"She probably feels like I wasn't taking the fight seriously."

"Exactly. Your confidence is something that we can work on with your team, but for now, can you promise me no more throwing fights?"

"I promise."

"And can you also promise me you'll apologize to Pyrrha?"

"I can do that, too."

"Thanks, honey." She squeezed a little tighter, Ruby leaning her head against her shoulder to return the hug. She moved to get up, but Ruby caught her hand.

"Can we stay like this a little longer?" She asked. "It's been a while since we've done this."

"Of course," Mom said, smiling at her.

"And Mom?" Ruby asked, prompting her mother to look at her questioningly. "I love you."

"I love you too."

* * *

"I bet you think you're hot shit, huh?" Dick Face said to Yang in the hallway outside of Goodwitch's classroom, using his body to block the way. They had both changed back into their uniforms and classes were over for the day, but they had to serve their detention for their conduct. Well, for Yang it was her first of two days of detention.

Seriously, how the hell had she managed to get herself two days of detention in the first week of school?

"I am, thanks for noticing," she said, her trademark smirk on her face.

"Yeah, keep laughing," he said, still trying to keep up the whole "tough guy" act. It would've been adorable if it wasn't so pathetic. And, you know, if he wasn't a trash human being. "I'll make sure to wide that stupid grin off your face."

"Kaiden," she said.

"Cardin," he corrected.

"Yeah, I don't care. I've laid you out twice now, so what makes you think third time will be the charm?"

"That wasn't a fair fight," he said.

"What, you're accusing me of cheating?" She asked, her eyebrow raised.

"Of course!" he yelled. "Goodwitch said it herself, you threw me off my game. You can't take me in a straight fight."

"I could kick your ass with both hands tied behind my back. You just can't handle that a _girl_ is stronger than you, so now you're bitching and whining about the fight 'not being fair'. Grow a pair, Dick Face. You're training to be a Huntsman. If you don't want to be thrown off by taunts, then learn to control your emotions. But don't blame me." She could tell by how red his face was that she managed to _royally _piss him off. "You ever want to try again, I'll take you on any time. And I'll even lay off the taunts so I don't hurt your wittle feewings," she said, throwing one more taunt in there for good measure. "Now if you'll excuse me, we both have a detention to serve," she said, pushing her way past him and into Goodwitch's classroom. Dick Face angrily stomped in after her.

"You're late," Goodwitch said warningly.

"Won't happen again, ma'am," Yang responded easily, taking a seat in the front of the class. Dick Face just grumbled before sitting a few seats away from her.

* * *

The glares from that jerk were going to get old really fast. The thing that confused Yang the most about Dick Face was his insistence on pretending that he was in any way tough. She hoped she wouldn't have to put up with him for much longer before he finally got the hint.

For now, she just wanted to go back to her dorm and sleep.

She was on her way to do just that when she ran into a familiar face.

"Yo, Blake!" she cheerfully, getting the black-haired girl's attention away from her book.

"How was detention?" her teammate asked.

"It was with Goodwitch and Cardin, so about as well as you'd expect," Yang said with a sigh. "I just wanna go to sleep."

"I can imagine."

"Can you believe that that asshole accused me of cheating during our spar?"

"How could he possibly think you cheated?" Blake asked.

"Apparently since I got under his skin, he thinks that made the fight unfair. What a baby."

"I honestly didn't think my opinion of him could get much lower," Blake said. "I have a feeling he's going to keep proving me wrong."

"Probably," Yang said. "So, whatcha reading?"

"I was catching up on some reading about the Color War," Blake said, showing Yang the cover of the book.

"Why?" Yang asked. "Didn't combat school cover that?"

"I didn't go to combat school," Blake answered, shocking Yang.

"But how are you so good?" Yang asked, dumbfounded.

"I grew up outside the Kingdoms. Learning to fight was a necessity. Besides, I'm not exactly self-taught."

"So, why didn't you join Ruby and Weiss's study session?"

"I study better on my own. I read at a fast pace and being with others is just gonna slow me down." At that moment, Yang let out a long yawn.

"Well, I'm gonna head back to the dorm. I'll see you later."

"Mhm," Blake mumbled, getting back to her book.

* * *

Cardin angrily slammed the door to his team's dorm, startling the rest of his team.

"What's your problem?" Russel asked him.

"That Xiao Long bitch is my problem," he said. And what a problem she was. It had been a while since he had seen a girl that sexy, so naturally he'd wanted to, uh, "get to know her better". And with the way she was dressed, he could see she had a lot to offer. But then the stupid bitch went and told him no, and then didn't even have the good graces to take her beating from him like a good little slut. "She needs to learn her place." She needed to learn that whatever Cardin Winchester wanted, he had. Sure, she didn't know when to shut the fuck up, but it was nothing a little duct tape couldn't fix. Besides, it was worth it for a body like that. He just needed to knock her down a peg, remind her of who's in charge, and make it clear that it's much healthier to stay on his good side. "I have a job for you boys."

"What do you need?" Sky asked.

"Gather some information about her. Her strengths, weaknesses, the works," he said. If he was going to put her in her place, he needed to make sure that it was thorough. He needed to destroy her utterly.

One way or another, Yang Xiao Long would be his.

**AN: Yeah, that last part with Cardin was super uncomfortable to write, for obvious reasons. This is kind of a downside to me writing the narration to match the thoughts of the person it's focusing on. Just to avoid confusing anyone, I absolutely DO NOT condone anybody thinking about someone the way Cardin thinks about Yang. It was just necessary to write it like that because it was from his perspective, and like it or not, this is how he thinks of Yang.**

**As you guys can probably see, I'm planning on having Cardin be a more serious antagonist for Volume 1 instead of just the dude that bullies Jaune.**

**We will soon be getting to the first class with Aqua, so I'm looking forward to starting that.**

**As always, thank you guys for reading, and I'll see you all next time!**


	20. Chapter 20

**AN: Sorry that this was late again. School started back up again, took my motivation for a while, and then it was tough to find a good writing schedule. But, I'm back!**

**Also, RWBY Volume 8 HYPE! Honestly, with the pandemic, I'm surprised that they're getting it out on time.**

**What do you guys think is gonna happen in V8? **

**I also want to thank you guys for the positive feedback from last chapter. I was honestly a little worried. **

**Anyway, on with the chapter! Enjoy!**

**Edit: I now have Fox just introduce himself instead of use his Semblance.**

Chapter 20

"Yeah, Weiss, you're going to need to change," Yang said, standing in the Team RWBY dorm with her workout clothes on. Today was the day that both Teams RWBY and JNPR were going to start working out together in the mornings, so they were trying to get ready, but there was a small problem…

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" Weiss asked, wearing her usual white combat dress and high heels. "It's just my combat outfit."

"Notice that none of us are wearing our usual outfits," Blake said, wearing a white tee-shirt she converted into a crop top by bunching up the side and tying it in a knot and black yoga pants.

"Besides, how are you going to work out in heels?" Ruby asked, wearing her tank top and shorts. "Actually, how do you even _fight_ in those things?"

"It's not that difficult once you get used to it," Weiss said in her own defense. "And this is what I always wear. What's wrong with it?"

"Trust us, when you're working out, you wanna wear something lightweight that's easy to move around in and won't make you overheat," Yang said. "Do you think soldiers work out in their full combat gear?"

"So what are you suggesting?" Weiss asked. "That I wear something like… that?" Weiss asked, not feeling particularly comfortable with wearing something even moderately revealing. She had an image, after all.

"Pretty much," Blake said.

"Well, I don't own any clothes like that."

"You can just borrow some of mine," Ruby said. "We're about the same size, so it shouldn't be a problem." Weiss's eyebrow twitched a little at her leader mentioning that she had a very similar figure to a girl _two years her junior_, but that was a problem for another time.

"Very well," Weiss said, accepting the offered clothes from Ruby and stepping into the bathroom to change. She took off her dress and slipped on the offered black shorts. They were shorter than anything she would wear normally, but beggars can't be choosers. She was about to slip on the red tank top Ruby provided when she noticed something on the floor. Ruby had accidentally handed her one of her sports bras as well. Weiss picked it up to give it back to her leader when she made a shocking realization.

_It was bigger than hers_.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Weiss grumbled under her breath, dropping the bra in disgust and slipping the tank top on. Weiss never would have guessed that Ruby was, ahem, _bigger_ than her, but she supposed that the slightly baggy shirt she wore under her corset hid her figure well enough that the heiress couldn't tell.

She stepped out of the bathroom and was handed a pair of sneakers by Ruby. Weiss accepted them with a glare at her leader, much to the younger girl's confusion. She slipped the sneakers on and looked back at her team members.

"Let's be off," she said.

* * *

Jaune was looking forward to the workout more than he thought he would. He arrived with the rest of his team at the courtyard, all of them in workout clothes. Jaune was wearing a black tee shirt and gym shorts. Ren was wearing some weird Mistralian outfit in green with white shorts. Pyrrha was wearing the skimpiest tank top and shorts he had ever seen.

Most guys would probably stare, but Jaune was a _gentleman_, thank you very much.

Nora was clearly the most enthusiastic about it. She was wearing a white tee-shirt with her emblem in pink, bright pink shorts, and even pink sweatbands on her head and wrists.

Jaune was surprised and a little grateful to the universe that he happened to end up on a team with two good-looking girls like Pyrrha and Nora. He was super embarrassed about sleeping in the same room as them every night, but again, gentleman. While they were certainly pleasant to look at, he wasn't going to let himself ogle them.

Especially when the reason for him agreeing to come along on this workout was going to be there.

Weiss Schnee. His Snow Angel.

Now, he knew that they had gotten off on the wrong foot, but he was confident that she'd come around one he showed off his impressive physique and physicality. All that time spent running from his sisters when they tried to braid his hair had to count for _something_. His team approached the courtyard, only to see Team RWBY already there and doing some stretches.

Boy, they were going to really push the whole "gentleman" thing, weren't they?

"Hello, everyone," Pyrrha cheerfully greeted.

"Hey, Pyrrha!" Ruby said. "Hi, guys!"

"Glad to see you all here," Yang said.

"Like we'd miss this," Nora said. The two teams continued their greetings, but Jaune instead headed for Weiss, who was looking cute in her tank top and shorts.

She should wear color more often.

"So, Weiss," he said, flexing his arms, "looking forward to our little workout?"

"Morning workouts are not for pleasure," Weiss said, continuing to stretch. "These are necessary for maintaining proper form. You don't 'look forward' to them."

"Oh, uh, right," he said, deflating. "So, uh, you wanna partner up for this?"

"I was under the impression that this would be a team effort. Thus, we have no need for partners." Jaune deflated further.

"All right!" Ruby said excitedly, taking Jaune's attention away from Weiss. "The gang's all here, so let's get started!"

Jaune was confident. He knew he could woo Weiss with his skill and strength. He could handle anything these girls could throw at him.

* * *

He was wrong. He was so very wrong.

By the time they were done with their workout, Jaune could barely stay standing, he was so exhausted. But everyone else was barely winded!

They weren't human. That had to be the only explanation.

"Are you alright, Jaune?" Pyrrha asked after noticing his exhaustion.

"Yup," he lied through grit teeth. "Totally fine. What makes you think I'm not fine?"

"It's just that you seem tired."

"What? No…" he said, still trying to sound cool. "It's just been a while, you know?"

"If you say so…"

Nailed it.

"Alright guys!" Ruby yelled. "Good work today!"

"This was nothing!" Nora said almost challengingly. "Next time, we're trying _my_ workout!"

"Nora, no," Ren scolded.

"Nora, yes!"

"Let's try not to kill our friends."

"Well, we're doing nothing else until tomorrow," Yang said. "We have to get to class in a little bit."

"And today is Advanced Combat!" Ruby yelled, jumping up and down excitedly. "Let's go!"

And just like that, she burst into rose petals and zoomed off back towards the dorms.

* * *

Ruby bounced excitedly in her seat, eager for class to begin. The classroom for Advanced Combat and Team Tactics was basically a smaller version of the classroom Miss Goodwitch used for regular Combat Class. Apparently it used to be one of the training rooms, but they added some arena-style seats to it to turn it into a classroom. It was the reason it took a few days to get everything set up.

There were only a few teams in this class: Her own, Team JNPR, a team that Ruby had never seen before, and sadly, Team CRDL. Obviously, her team had its problems with Cardin, but if the looks Pyrrha and Nora gave him were any indication, he had made enemies of Team JNPR as well.

He totally deserved it.

Her excitement grew as she watched Mom walk into the room, wearing her super-cool and professional teacher clothing. She walked up to a mobile blackboard in the middle of the room, and wrote her name on the board.

"Hello, students," Mom said, and Ruby could hear the very subtle nervousness in her voice. It was a little amusing that she was so nervous to do something she was so good at. "Welcome to Advanced Combat and Team Tactics. Some of you already know me, but allow me to re-introduce myself. My name is Professor Aqua Branwen. You may refer to me as 'Professor', 'Mrs. Branwen', or if you feel so inclined 'Master Aqua'." A few hands went up at that statement, Weiss's included. "Before you ask, I earned the title of 'Master' when I completed my apprenticeship under my sword master." The hands went down. "Now, you may be wondering what the point of this class is. Well, this will be a more intense version of Combat Class with Professor Goodwitch, with a focus on building teamwork. When we do sparring, the rules will be different. More realistic. We will also do the occasional lecture. Simply put, by the end of the year, your teams will function like well-oiled machines and you will be better equipped to handle the dangers this world will throw at you once you graduate. Any questions?"

Weiss raised her hand.

"Why are there so few of us in this class?" she asked.

"You were the best-scoring teams in Initiation. This is a special program just for you." Several people beamed with pride at Mom's statement, including Cardin.

How were those jerks one of the highest-scoring teams?

"Anyway, now that that's out of the way, let's move on to introductions," Mom continued. "We'll start with Team RWBY." Of course she picked them first. "Stand up and introduce yourselves, girls."

"I'm Ruby Rose, leader of team RWBY," Ruby said happily.

"And I'm her sister and her partner, Yang Xiao Long."

"I am Weiss Schnee. A pleasure to meet all of you."

"Blake Belladonna."

Team RWBY sat back down and Teams JNPR and CRDL introduced themselves in much the same way. Then they got to the unfamiliar team. Mom introduced them as Team CVFY. The four unknowns stood up and a stylish girl in a beret and sunglasses took the lead.

"I'm Coco Adel, leader of Team CVFY," she said, looking around at the other students with her eyes hidden behind her sunglasses. "Nice to meet you."

"My ogle senses are tingling," Ruby heard Yang mutter under her breath.

"I am Yatsuhashi Daichi," a giant in green said, giving a slight bow. The boy next to him had almost copper-colored skin covered in scars with red hair and pure white eyes.

"My name is Fox Alistair," he said quietly, and nothing more. Finally, the fourth member of their team, a girl with long brown hair and an adorable set of rabbit ears spoke up.

"Um, hi," she said shyly. "My name is Velvet Scarlatina, and—"

"Huh, I didn't know Beacon was opening up a zoo," a voice interrupted her. Shocked that someone would say that, Ruby looked around the room, only to be totally unsurprised to realize that Cardin was the one who insulted the Faunus, if his smirk and the way his team were chuckling meant anything.

"What did you just say?" Coco asked in a threatening tone as Velvet shrank back, mortified at what was happening.

"What? Animals belong in a zoo, don't they?" Cardin asked like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Why else would one be here? It's not like they're worthy of being Huntsmen."

"And you think you are, Mister Winchester?" Mom asked, her voice brining a chill to the room.

"Of course," he said, that arrogance never leaving his voice.

"Then why don't you come down here and prove it?"

"Heh. Fine," Cardin responded, getting up out of his seat.

The poor guy had no idea what he was getting into.

* * *

"Aren't you gonna get your weapon?" Cardin asked after he walked onto the stage, mace in hand.

"No," Mom said, standing on the other side of the arena without having summoned her Keyblade. "I won't need it."

"What's she doing?" Weiss asked.

"You'll see," Ruby answered with a wicked smile on her face.

"You're planning to fight me without your weapon?" Cardin asked skeptically.

"No, you won't be fighting me," Mom said, holding her hand out in front of her. "You'll be fighting him." She summoned her familiar blue glyph. "626!" she shouted, causing a small multi-armed creature with big ears to appear in the arena.

"What?!" Weiss exclaimed from next to Ruby, shocked.

"I know! He's so cute, right?" Ruby said.

"No, that's not…"

"What is that thing?" Cardin asked.

"This is Experiment 626," Mom said. "He will be your opponent."

"That little thing?"

"Yup." 626 got down on all its hands and knees, the spikes on its back sticking up aggressively. "All you have to do is it hit him once with that mace of yours and he'll disappear. I'll stop the fight if it's clear you won't be able to do it. If you're half as good as you seem to think you are, then this shouldn't be a problem."

"Let's just get this over with already. I've got an animal to put in its place." Mom let out a frustrated breath through her nose.

"Fine then," she said through grit teeth. "Begin!"

True to her word, 626 didn't move and let Cardin charge at him, his mace held high and a battle cry fresh out of his lungs. He brought the mace down with enough force to crack the stone of the arena, a smirk on his face, confident that he had passed Mom's test without any trouble.

Ruby knew it wasn't going to be that easy.

When the dust cleared, 626 was standing on top of the head of Cardin's mace instead of being underneath it like the boy had clearly intended. He didn't even have enough time to look surprised before 626 launched himself at him, punching him in the jaw hard enough to send him sprawling on the ground.

"Nice!" Yang cheered.

Growling, Cardin got up and tried swinging his mace at the little creature over and over, but 626 dodged every swing.

Mom had really picked the perfect summon to teach Cardin a lesson. All he had to do was hit 626 once, but his speed made doing it much more difficult than Cardin had thought.

And he hadn't even seen 626's strength yet.

After dodging another swing of Cardin's mace, 626 crawled up his body like a bug before depositing himself on his back and swiping at the sides of his face with his claws.

"Eugh," Weiss grimaced at the sight of 626's crawling.

After a few seconds, Cardin managed to reach behind him and grab a hold of 626. Only instead of doing the smart thing and slamming him into the ground, he chose to instead fling him away to get the little guy as far away from him as he could. 626 spun himself around in midair so he could land on his feet and ran back at Cardin, sliding when the boy swung his mace again, and going between his legs to grab his ankle. 626 pulled, yanking Cardin off his feet with minimal effort, causing the boy to land face-first on the ground.

But 626 wasn't done yet. He lifted Cardin up off the ground purely by the ankle, and slammed him into the ground again and again. Finally, he lifted him up one more time…

Before disappearing, causing Cardin to drop to the ground unceremoniously.

* * *

"That's enough," Aqua said, looking down disappointedly at Cardin, who was slowly attempting to pick himself back up. "Your aura's red, and I don't feel like sending anyone to the infirmary." She looked back up at the rest of her class, at the mixture of facial expressions. Some looked happy, like Coco, Nora and Yang, some looked thoroughly unimpressed, like Yatsuhashi and Blake, but Velvet, the girl who Cardin got himself in trouble making a comment about, refused to look at him.

Weiss's reaction surprised her, though. She was glaring at her.

"Let this be your first lesson," Aqua addressed the class. "Never assume victory will come easily, regardless of the unassuming appearance of the enemy. Always assume that there is some ability or attribute that you don't know about. Approach every fight as if it as a matter of life and death, and always give your all." She gestured at Cardin, still recovering from his beat down. "Take Mister Winchester for example. If he took this battle seriously from the start, he would have seen that 626's small size would mean greater speed and maneuverability. An experienced Huntsman would have at least assumed that much and waited to confirm it. Mister Winchester, on the other hand was so thoroughly convinced of his own supremacy that he thought he could just brute force his way through it. When that didn't work, he was taken so off-guard and became so frustrated that he didn't even bother to change his approach." She looked Cardin straight in the eye. "If this was a real battle, you would be dead right now because of your arrogance."

He glared back at her. She could already tell that her advice was going in one ear and out the other.

"Which brings us to the ability you may not know about," she continued, returning her attention to the students. "Thanks to the boxes of digital lies that are video games, so many of you assume that high speed means low power. Stop assuming that. In this case, not only is 626 fast, but he has monstrous strength, too. In fact, he can lift 3,000 times his own weight." That earned some surprised faces from the students. "A Huntsman-in-training is nothing for him. Since Mister Winchester couldn't overcome the obvious problem of 626's speed, he was entirely unprepared for his strength. Take every fight seriously and never take victory for granted." She looked back down at Cardin. "You can go back to your seat now." She watched as he slinked back to the stand, taking his place among his team.

* * *

Weiss watched as the buffoon that was Cardin Winchester took his seat after that embarrassing performance. Now, normally, she would take pleasure in watching that sexist barbarian be put in his place, but there was a more pressing issue on her mind.

Namely, the fact that her professor had the Schnee Family Semblance. How was it possible? Was she related to the Schnee Family in some way?

She had to get to the bottom of this.

"Now, that fight wasn't just to pick on Mister Winchester," Professor Branwen continued. "Remember that at the beginning I asked him to prove that he was worthy of becoming a Huntsman. Well, if you ask me, as it stands now none of you are worthy of becoming Huntsman and Huntresses."

Weiss gasped. How dare she?!

"Every single one of you is missing a key part of what is required to be a Huntsman. Some are lacking the heart, the skill, the willpower, the temperament, or some combination of all of them. But it doesn't have to stay that way. You will be spending four years at this Academy, and in that time, all of you will be molded into the kind of Huntsman and Huntresses that Beacon will be proud of. But that all depends on you." She paused for a second.

"Oh, and, Mister Winchester," she said, looking at the boy in question, "Detention. Racism in my class will not be tolerated."

She heard several silent celebrations at Cardin getting disciplined yet again, particularly from Team CVFY. Professor Branwen took her scroll out of her pocket and projected and image that was familiar to eight of the students in the room.

"Now, let's move on to talking about one of the reasons I was hired as a professor at this Academy."

It was one of those weird black creatures they fought during initiation.

"The Heartless."

**AN: So we finally get to see some of Aqua's first class, and Cardin gets another beat down. Let me know if this is getting old yet.**

**Now, I'm including Team CVFY as part of Aqua's class, but I never got around to reading RWBY: After the Fall, so my characterization of them might be inaccurate. I know a few things, like what their Semblances are and the fact that Coco is gay, but not much else.**

**Like, Fox can actually talk, right?**

**We also get another of Aqua's summons, this time Stitch. Also, just for clarification in the future, did Stitch have laser blasters in BBS? I can't remember.**

**And honestly, using Stitch to kick the crap out of Cardin has been in the pipe for a while. So happy I finally got to it.**

**As always, thanks for reading, and I'll see you all next time!**


End file.
